Jeddah January 1 (BNA): Sebastien Loeb believes this could be the year he leads the Bahrain Raid Xtreme to victory in the Dakar Rally, and confirmed his intentions today at the first real test of the 45th edition in Saudi Arabia.
The nine-time World Rally Champion was placed well into second place after the opening 367km special stage, just 23 seconds behind stage winner Carlos Sainz, with two other Prodrive hunters rounding out the top seven.
Partnered by Fabian Lorquin in his BRX Hunter, Loeb found himself between his Audi teammates Sainz and Mattias Ekström, but he had solid support on hand after a stage where the five fastest drivers were separated by just over two minutes.
The winner of the Rally Morocco in October, Guerlain Checheret, with co-driver Alex Winock, set the fifth fastest time in a Prodrive Hunter, just five seconds behind Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi in a Toyota.
Loeb’s BRX teammates Orly Terranova and Alex Harrow moved Prodrive Hunter up to seventh, one length ahead of four-time Qatar winner and defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.
It all added up to a very satisfying stage for the Prodrive-run BRX team in Saudi Arabia, which includes 67 people, 14 nationalities and 27 vehicles supporting fishermen, each powered by EcoPower fuel that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to petrol.
Having bested Loeb by one second in the previous day’s prologue, Ekström led much of today’s stage before the Frenchman picked up the pace in Prodrive Hunter, as did Sainz, to overtake him in the last 100km.
Prodrive Hunters’ performance came as no surprise after back-to-back victories in last year’s inaugural World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC).
After Checheret’s historic first car success in Morocco, Loeb handed the BRX an impressive victory at Rally Andalucía, and he started the 2023 W2RC race in Saudi Arabia determined to go one better than last year’s runner-up.
The Dakar continues tomorrow with a 430km stage from Sea Camp to Alula.
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