Dakar Rally: Sovereign leader in the first week 🎥
TOYOTA-STAR Ahead After the first week of the 2022 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, only icon Sébastien Loeb in a BRX buggy seems to be able to prevent the triumph of the Toyota team led by the commanding Nasser Al-Attiyah.
In the short video in English, the technical advantages of the new Toyota Hilux V6 of the current rally leader are explained.
The sixth stage marked the end of the first half of the 2022 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Friday, January 7. From the start, Nasser Al-Attiyah leads the overall classification in a Toyota Hilux with a V6 biturbo engine fielded by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa.
Consistently fast and unerring
The desert fox from Qatar is not primarily amazed by his speed, but by his consistency. The reigning FIA World Cup winner is not aiming for best times, but for the most flawless drives possible over sand and gravel.
His French co-driver Matthieu Baumel, who has so far guided him confidently over the special stages of up to 465 kilometers, has just as great an influence. Since setting the fastest times on the first two half stages on January 1, the duo has been in the lead, which it has now extended to around 50 minutes by the rest day on January 8 with a driving time of almost 21 hours.
Only Loeb can hold a candle to Nasser
The fastest pursuer since the start of the rally has been Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (gallery, left) in a BRX Hunter four-wheel-drive buggy with a Ford EcoBoost V6 turbo engine built by Prodrive in England. After his 15th stage win in a Dakar Rally on the second leg, his gap to the leader was just over nine minutes.
When the record world champion experienced technical problems the other day, his gap to Nasser, who is focusing his race entirely on Loeb, grew to over 37 minutes. Since then, the leader has been managing his lead and steadily extending it.
Fast local
On the sixth stage, Loeb's new co-driver Fabian Lurquin experienced navigation problems that cost them more than twenty minutes of time loss. For this reason, Saudi Yazeer Al Rajhi, navigated by the British pro, moved past Loeb into second intermediate place in a Toyota Hilux. Both will start the second rally week on Sunday separated by only six seconds.
So far, around 2150 kilometers have been completed on best time. The finish after a further 1000 or so planned SS kilometers is on Friday, January 14. If Nasser Al-Attiyah remains in front, it would be his first Dakar victory in Saudi Arabia and the fourth after three successes in South America.
First stage win for Audi
All the highs and lows of the world's most difficult cross-country rally have been experienced by Team Audi Sport so far. On the third stage on January 4, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz ensured the first triumph of a hybrid model with his Audi RS Q e-tron (Gallery right). For Audi, it was the first since 1985 with the Quattro in Africa.
However, technical problems, which so far have not affected the complex electric drive, and difficulties with navigation threw all three Audi teams out of the running for a top spot. In 13th place, Mattias Ekström, who managed the second-best time on Friday, is best placed before the rest day.
Highlights on TV or the Internet
On the YouTube channel of the Dakar Rally, you can watch the daily highlights of the stages so far with French and English commentary. The free TV channel Eurosport summarizes the action every evening from 9 to 10 p.m. with German commentary.
