Sébastien Loeb is a man of his word.
Third in the general classification, nearly 50 minutes behind leader Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) halfway through the Dakar 2022, the French driver announced that his only strategy was now to attack in order to finish as well as possible.
He kept his promise.
After the rest day on Saturday, he went around on Sunday and started the second and final week of the race in the best possible way.
At the wheel of his Prodrive, the nine-time WRC world champion indeed won the 7th stage of the event.
A long stage of 701 kilometers including 402 of special between Riyadh and al-Dawadimi in Saudi Arabia.
With his new co-driver Fabian Lurquin, they lead the leader Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) by 5′26 ′ 'and take 2nd place in the general classification.
Al-Attiyah, however, still seems out of reach and remains the favorite for the final coronation as he has a lead of nearly 45 minutes over his new runner-up.
"We had pressure problems over the last 50 km, the car does not move forward, accelerates ... We wondered if it would not end up stopping three kilometers from the finish" explained the driver of the Bahrain Raid Xtreme after the finish.
This is the second victory this year for the Loeb-Lurquin duo after their success in the 2nd stage at the beginning of last week.
The Alsatian, who has long teamed up with his Daniel Elena, is the 16th stage success since his debut in 2016.
As we head into week 2 of the @dakar a look back at the first week including our debut stage wins for @SebastienLoeb & @ terranovaorly. # Dakar2022 #DakarinSaudi # داكار 2022 pic.twitter.com/Jds03PYCtk
- Bahrain Raid Xtreme (@BRaidXtreme) January 9, 2022
This 7th stage was auspicious for the French camp Adrien Van Beveren, riding his Yamaha, took the lead in the general classification thanks to his eleventh place on Sunday.
“I tried to attack as much as I could, I can go faster but I cannot control the navigation at the same time, he reacted in tears at the finish.
You know where I'm coming from, today it's nice.
“Fourth in the event in 2017, he remains out of four withdrawals: engine failure in 2019 and 2021 and accident in 2018 and 2020.