Date :- 16-01-2023
Watsupptoday Desk

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Kevin Benavides won the 2023 Dakar Rally. This year's rally, which was the longest one to take place in Saudi Arabia, with longer stages. Considered the toughest desert rally raid in the world, the Dakar also got the surprise of weather this year. Rain and storms in the region changed the terrain and made it tougher for the competitors. Winning his fifth Dakar, Al-Attiyah stormed to victory this year fending off a late charge from Sebastian Loeb, who won six consecutive stages (a record). The Qatari driver now becomes the second most successful driver at Dakar behind Stephane Peterhansel who has eight titles to his name. The 2023 Dakar Rally started with Audi Sport's domination, winning both the Prologue and Stage 1. However while pace was on team Audi's side, durability and reliability of their Audi RS Q e-tron soon became a recurring issue. Only Mattias Ekstrom from Audi camp finished the rally, in 13th place, with Carlos Sainz retiring in the 9th stage and Peterhansel retiring in the 6th. With his biggest challenger - Audi facing reliability issues, the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver won three stages with stable finishes in the rest. Loeb's comeback while historic could only help him finish 2nd in the 2023 Dakar Rally. 2023 Dakar became quite the fight to the finish for Kevin Benavides and Toby Price, both of Red Bull KTM racing. Price had a lead of 12 seconds going to the last stage. But missing two waypoints cost Price, as Benavides finished ahead of him by 43 seconds to win his second Dakar. Indian team Hero MotoSports has reason to celebrate as the team's rider Franco Caimi finished the rally in 10th place overall. But Joaquim Rodrigues retired from the race after an injury in Stage 4. Sebastian Buhler and Ross Branch finished the rally in 20th and 26th overall respectively, with Branch winning two stages for his team.