The Dakar 2023 is over.
And unlike usual, the suspense was intense until the last kilometres, especially in the motorcycle category.
After two weeks of racing, Argentinian Kevin Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory racing) is ahead of his teammate Australian Toby Price by... 43 seconds at the finish this Sunday in Dammam, after almost 45 hours race and more than 8,000 km covered.
In the cars, the Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) won his fifth title and beat Sébastien Loeb, winner of seven stages including six in a row.
In a particularly tight edition marked by the abandonment of the title holder, the Briton Sam Sunderland, from the first stage on January 1, Benavides started this Sunday with 12 seconds at the start of the last stage on his rival and teammate.
The 34-year-old won the final 136 km special between Al-Hofuf and Damman and took 55 seconds from Price.
🚀 @kmbenavides full throttle to Dammam!
🏍#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/l2POVUcmkM
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 15, 2023
Already winner in 2021, the eldest of the Benavides brothers (Luciano, his younger brother, finished in 6th place) caught up at the very end of the race, winning the last two stages.
During the penultimate, on the road to Shaybah, he managed to turn the tide when he had passed 23′10′′ at the bedside of Matthias Walkner, his teammate and winner in 2018 who moreover left the helicopter test, before winning the special after reinstating his downtime.
The native of Salta, in the northwest of Argentina, stood out from his debut in the famous rally in 2016, with a fourth place, then climbed on the second step of the podium in the 2018 edition, the penultimate disputed in South America.
Two years ago he was the first South American to win the Dakar and now has seven stage victories to his name in seven outings.
This 2023 edition was that of records.
If Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) won three stages, he won above all his fifth title after 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2022, which placed him only 2nd on the list behind Stéphane Peterhansel (8) and ahead of the Finn Ari Vatanen.
In the lead since the third stage, the 52-year-old driver, blood prince and true star in his country, counted from the start 20 minutes ahead of Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi) and 33 over the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Sr, before offering a boulevard after the abandonments of these two main rivals, respectively on January 6 and 10.
🏆 @AlAttiyahN and @matthieubaumel win the #Dakar2023
🚗The Qatari driver maintained his lead over Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin to take his 5th Dakar victory.
He now holds more titles than Ari Vatanen and is second only to @s_peterhansel and his 8 titles.
👏 pic.twitter.com/Gx4Mow38bB
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 15, 2023
Until the end, Sébastien Loeb, on his Prodrive, will have tried everything to win his first trophy in the sand dunes.
Like last year, the nine-time WRC world champion finished 2nd, but we will especially remember his incredible series of consecutive stage victories, 6 between 8th and 13th!
Again a first in the history of rally-raid, the Alsatian overtaking a certain... Ari Vatanen!
Loeb and his teammate, Belgian Fabian Lurquin, finished 1h 20′ and 49′ from the winner but pocketed 35 points for the 2023 world championship, of which the Dakar was the first round.
What a week on @dakar 🤌🏻
Sixth victory in a row on such a demanding event (and the 7th since the start), the @BRaidXtreme team and Fabian can be proud of the work accomplished 🙌🏻 It's up
to us to finish the job tomorrow 🏁 #BRX #DakarRally #BFGoodrich #RedBull pic.twitter.com/IZmNLLKz7i
— Sebastien Loeb (@SebastienLoeb) January 14, 2023
Finally, note the coronation of Frenchman Alexandre Giroud in the quads category.
Already titled in 2022, the Grenoble native won in the prologue then during the first four stages: “We have just achieved a feat, it was not won in advance, we had to be strong, the specials were long.
It was a crazy Dakar”, reacted the pilot on his arrival in Damman.
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