Sébastien Loeb bounces back from a series of punctures to claim his first victory in this year’s Dakar Rally, edging out Saudi leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi on Tuesday’s fourth stage.
Competitor Prodrive, a nine-time world rally champion, finished 1min 08sec ahead of Toyota’s Al-Rajhi after 631km of undulating terrain without major difficulty, including a 299km special between Al-Salamiya and Al-Hofuf in Saudi Saudi.
Loeb suffered three punctures on Monday, but his first victory in this year’s race puts him in sixth place overall, 23min 50sec behind Al-Rahji.
“It was important to get back into the game. Especially since we are going to reach big stages. We must not let ourselves be left behind,” said Loeb.
“The three Audis are performing well, Nasser (Al-Attiyah) and Yazeed (Al-Rajhi) too, it’s a fierce competition. At the moment, no one is taking a break.”
Loeb gained 1min 22sec on his Qatari rival Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive), third in the stage at 5min 08sec and in the general classification at 11min 03sec.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz’s fourth place placed him second overall, just over four minutes behind, with Audi teammate Stephane Peterhansel finishing sixth.
In the motorcycle category, Chilean Ignacio Cornejo took the lead in the general classification after his second stage victory of the year.
The Honda rider finished the stage almost three minutes ahead of his American teammate Ricky Brabrec, followed closely by reigning Argentine champion Kevin Benavides (KTM) at 3min 18sec.
Leading since the first stage, Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero) finished fourth at 4min 26sec and moved to second place in the general classification, 1min 15sec behind the Chilean.
Wednesday’s delicate fifth stage crosses the vast “Rub al-Khali” desert, with a 645 km stage including 118 km of special between Al-Hofuf and Shubaytah.
© Agence France-Presse