The second part of the 48-hour chrono stage in the Empty Quarter was sandy, much like the first part, and the stage victories were swept up by four French competitors, a first in the rally's history.
Adrien Van Beveren was able to display outright control of the terrain to gain one of the finest rewards in his career with the fourth success of his career on the Dakar.
Sébastien Loeb, while on the 48-hour exercise, won a prestigious stage to put himself in a favourable position to win, and he became the first car driver to win more than one stage on this Dakar. The victory also increased his collection of stage wins to 25.
In the quad race, double title holder Alexandre Giroud snatched victory from Manuel Andújar, and Xavier de Soultrait won for the third time on the 46th edition of the Dakar in the SSV category, behind the wheel of his Polaris bearing the colours of SLR, Loeb’s team.
He has been on the podium every day, apart from stages 1 and 3. Never in the history of Dakar have there been four French winners on the same stage! Vive la France, indeed!
While the Frenchmen had all the reason to celebrate, the same cannot be said about one prominent child of the dunes. Five-time title winner Nasser Al Attiyah suffered a broken steering arm and smashed the front left wheel of his Hunter. This happened only 50 km from the finish of stage six and cost him 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The Qatari racer has said that he will do his best to secure as many points as possible for the championship to help his teammate Sébastien Loeb. Others who suffered on stage included Pablo Quintanilla and Yazeed Al Rajhi.
Ricky Brabec, who has been consistent since the start in AlUla, displayed his solidity and avoided any mistakes on the return journey to Shubaytah, allowing him to take the lead in the general rankings and keep on hoping to pick up a second title after his first in 2020.
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