Dakar 2022: Desert racing reaches its boiling point

Bengaluru, January 13: France's defending champion Stephane Peterhansel grabbed his first stage win of Dakar 2022 to make it a stage win each for all three Audi Sport drivers at the team's Dakar debut even as the title race between Nasser Al Attiyah and Sebatsien Loeb is expected to go down the wire.

The man they call Monsieur Dakar has placed his Audi RS Q e-tron in the Top 10 on each stage since the Rest Day as a positive second week continues for the winner of 82 Dakar specials.

"We haven't had any big mechanicals since the start of the second week, so we're making good progress and having fun driving the car. I'm not necessarily a stage hunter, but each Audi driver has now won a stage, and that's fantastic," said Peterhansel, the 14-time Dakar champion.

Dakar 2022: Peterhansel leads Audi 1-2 on stage 10, Loeb takes the fight close to Al Attiyah Dakar 2022: Peterhansel leads Audi 1-2 on stage 10, Loeb takes the fight close to Al Attiyah

Soaring temperatures on Stage 10 of the 2022 Dakar Rally saw the race come to its boiling point as it nears the final straight. With the kilometres running out there is a sense of 'now or never' as race leaders look to defend their gains on the last two days.

Thursday's (January 13) Stage 11 will take the Dakar convoy on a 345kms loop around the Bisha bivouac. The race course will feature dunes of all shapes and sizes, perfect for any competitor looking to launch a late attack.

The 2022 FIA Dakar Rally will have its ceremonial finish in the Red City of Jeddah on Friday (January 14).

Terranova prevents clean-sweep

In the cars section, Peterhansel was followed home on the stage by Audi team-mate Spain's rally legend Carlos Sainz who finished as the day's runner-up.

Meanwhile, Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) Team driver Orlando Terranova finished third to prevent an Audi clean-sweep of the 374kms of timed racing covered between Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha as the Dakar moves towads its business end.

Penalty for Al Attiyah

Race leader Al Attiyah was hit by a 5min penalty for not putting his seatbelt back on quickly enough after getting out to fix a puncture on Stage 8. The Toyota Gazoo Racing man still has an advantage of over half an hour at the front of the race, but will be out to limit any further time losses on the next two days.

"We only lost one minute from Seb today and tomorrow we have a good position on the road. Today we had no punctures or any issues with the car. Mathieu's navigation was good," said three-time champion Dakar Rally champion Al Attiyah.

Loeb edges close

Chasing the ace Qatari down over every stage is nine-time World Rally Championship (WRC) winner Sebastien Loeb. The Frenchman's BRX Hunter has been in attack mode for over a week now, but still the gap to his Qatari rival stands at 32m40s. Unfortunately for Loeb, he now seems to be running out of road.

"We can't try any more than we are already doing to catch Nasser. The gap is big, but we'll do everything we can in these last two days to get as close as we can," said Loeb.

Peterhansel surges

On a day when Peterhansel surged, in the bikes category, Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren is back in overall command after several front-runners hit trouble through the rocky outcrops of Wadi Ad Dawasir.

In the trucks category, a dominant drive from Russia's race leader Dmitry Sotnikov extended his advantage as the Team Kamaz Master driver looks set to make it back-to-back victories at the Dakar.

(With Red Bull/Team BRX Media inputs)