Dakar 2022: Al Attiyah wins Stage 4, extends lead over Loeb

Bengaluru, January 6: Qatari ace Nasser Al Attiyah won Stage 4 of FIA Dakar Rally 2022 and managed to eke out another few seconds to boost his car lead to 38min, 05sec over Frenchman Sebastien Loeb in the Saudi Arabian deserts.

The Dakar convoy had everything thrown at it during Stage 4 on Wednesday (January 5) as the drivers and riders tackled the longest stage of the entire 2022 edition with 465km featuring every type of sand while also demanding flat-out speed.

In the bikes category, a tactically astute ride from England's Sam Sunderland keeps the 2017 Dakar winner top after 1,500km of racing against the clock as he increased his lead over 2018 champion Matthias Walkner of Austria to three minutes with Australian Daniel Sanders 7min, 7sec behind for GasGas Factory Racing.

In trucks category, defending champion Dmitry Sotnikov of Russia retains his lead of the truck race, but compatriot Eduard Nikolaev is now only six minutes away in the general classification after another stage win.

Good pace

In the cars category, it was three-time Dakar winner Al Attiyah's 44th stage victory while second place on Stage 4 keeps Frenchman Loeb second overall with Poland's Kuba Przygonski putting his MINI JCW Buggy back into contention for the overall podium after a difficult start to the rally.

"We caught up to some cars in front of us early in the day. Then we decided to keep a good pace and minimise any risk. Matthieu (Baumel) did a great job with the navigation," said Al Attiyah, the Dakar champion in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Loeb runs close

Partnered by Fabian Lurquin in one of the three BRX Prodrive Hunters, Loeb remains handily placed in second position overall, within 38min, 5sec of Al Attiyah and 1min 10 sec ahead of third-placed Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi.

"We pushed all through this longest stage without taking too much of a risk, and yet still avoided the chance of a puncture or taking the wrong route. In fact, we hardly made any mistakes at all," said Loeb.

It was a fantastic reward for the whole BRX team who worked through the night to prepare the nine-time World Rally Championship winner's car for longest stage of Dakar 2022 from Al Qaisumah to Riyadh.

Sainz in the mix

Rally legend Carlos Sainz of Spain, who won Stage 3 was third on the day behind the wheel of his Audi RS Q e-tron.

But Audi team-mates Mattias Ekstrom of Sweden and 14-time winner and defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France suffered mechanical issues.

Sea of dunes

Thursday's (January 6) Stage 5 will see the field face a sea of dunes over 40kms long, among other potential pitfalls, on a tricky loop stage of over 350kms around the Riyadh bivouac.

The 44th Dakar Rally which began with a Prologue on the New Year's day is slated to conclude on January 14 after 12 stages. The rest day is on January 8 at Riyadh. Organised by Amaury Sport Organisation, it is for the third year that the most-demanding off-road rally is being held in the Saudi Arabian deserts and dunes.

(With Red Bull Media/Team BRX Media inputs)