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Dakar 2022: Sainz wins Stage 10, Al Attiyah sniffs victory

Team Bahrain Raid Xtreme's (BRX) Sebastien Loeb, in his Prodrive-run Hunter finished second in Stage 11 while Overdrive's Lucio Alvarez brought up the third spot on the podium in the 346kms loop near Bisha.

Carlos Sainz

Bengaluru, January 13: Spain's rally legend Carlos Sainz won the penultimate stage and his second of FIA Dakar Rally 2022 in his Audi RS Q e-Tron as Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah edged close towards his fourth victory in the most demanding off-road rally which has reached its business end in Saudi Arabian deserts and dunes.

Team Bahrain Raid Xtreme's (BRX) Sebastien Loeb of France, in his Prodrive-run Hunter, finished second in Stage 11 while Toyota Overdrive's Spanish driver Lucio Alvarez brought up the third spot on the podium in the 346kms loop near Bisha.

However a 5min penalty was later imposed on the nine-time World Rally Championship (WRC) winner after he braked late going into a speed control zone.

Dakar 2022: Desert racing reaches its boiling pointDakar 2022: Desert racing reaches its boiling point

The penalty for the WRC legend and his co-driver Fabian Lurquin dropped them to eighth later.

With just one stage and day to go, Al Attiyah, now has a commanding 33min, 19 sec lead over Loeb as the gruelling Dakar 2022 heads for the ceremonial finish in the Red City of Jeddah on Friday (January 14).

Dakar 2022: Desert racing reaches its boiling pointDakar 2022: Desert racing reaches its boiling point

Local hero Yazeed Al Rajhi in another Toyota, is third overall, over an hour behind Al Attiyah as the ace Qatari looks well poised to add to the Dakar Rally titles he had won in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

"Yes that was a good day out there doing what we could to keep our important second place overall for BRX. The car has been strong and quick too, especially on its first event, something the team should be very proud of," said Loeb, the nine-time WRC champion .

Loeb had initially recorded the second fastest time on the 346kms penultimate stage around the south-western town of Bisha as he looked to reinforce his challenge at the wheel of BRX Prodrive Hunter in second place overall.

With Sainz setting the fastest time on the stage, the two other BRX cars also finished inside the top ten, Nani Roma and Alex Haro taking fourth spot and Orlando Terranova and Dani Oliveras going eighth quickest to reinforce their fourth place overall.

Despite the penalty for Loeb, the Frenchman ensured that Al Attiyah still needs an untroubled run on Friday's final 164s km stage to secure victory in Jeddah where the rally had started with a prologue on the New Year's day. Game on!

(With Team BRX Media inputs)

Story first published: Thursday, January 13, 2022, 20:30 [IST]
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