Toyota Gazoo Racing and Overdrive Racing celebrated a superb 45th Dakar Rally with Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah claiming a fifth victory on the world's toughest cross-country rally and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel sealing a fourth success. Sebastien Loeb gave Bahrain Raid Xtreme the lead in the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship Sunday. Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq took the final 136km stage from Al-Hofuf to Dammam for their second success in this year's event, and a ninth Prodrive Hunter win out of 14 stages in the toughest Dakar since the rally moved to Saudi Arabia three years ago. After powering his BRX Prodrive Hunter into the record books with a sixth stage victory in-a-row 24 hours earlier, Loeb coasted to the finish in Dammam to secure his second successive overall Dakar runner-up spot with co-driver Fabian Lurquin. The Qatari led the grueling 14-stage event from the third selective section, controlled his pace to perfection and stayed clear of undue risks to reach the finish in Dammam with a 1hr 18min 49sec advantage over Loeb, his main rival in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship. The fifth success meant that Al-Attiyah became the second most successful car entrant in the history of the event behind eight-time winner Stéphane Peterhansel. Ari Vatanen had been tied with Al-Attiyah on four victories. Al-Attiyah won three of the eight stages before the rest day in Riyadh and then went on the defensive to preserve his V6-engined Toyota Hilux T1+. The feat marked Toyota's third victory in five years after Al-Attiyah's successes with Baumel in 2019 and 2022. The winner said: "It was a difficult Dakar for everyone. It's crazy to manage to defend my title. I'm very happy to win five times, and Mathieu four... Sorry, Mathieu! I respect Ari enormously, he's still my idol. I always want to win more and more, now I want to defend my world champion's title. "We didn't have to attack like crazy. We managed to get through the second week and win the Dakar at the end, that's what really matters." Brazil's Lucas Moraes was taking part in the event for the first time and called upon the experience of former winner Timo Gottschalk as his co-driver. The impressive rookie belied his lack of experience in the dunes to finish in a stunning third overall in the first of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas. Moraes became the highest ever ranked Brazilian finisher. He said: "It was important for the rally community in Brazil because it had never happened before. I'm going to celebrate with all the Brazilian photographers. I don't have any other Dakar to compare, but I heard this one was very tough." Al-Attiyah's Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mates, Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy and Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, also delivered consistent performances to reach the finish in fourth and fifth overall. Lategan had been running as high as second before delays with a broken damper in the second half of the event dropped him down the leader board. De Villiers, for his part, set a Dakar record for 20 finishes on the event across three continents. Argentinean Juan-Cruz Yacopini teamed up with Spanish co-pilot Daniel Oliveras and guided their Overdrive Racing Toyota to the finish in a fine seventh overall. Former Dakar rider Isidre Esteve Pujol drove an Overdrive Racing-built Toyota Hilux under the Repsol Toyota Rally Team banner with fellow countryman José-Maria Villalobos. The Spaniard finished 34th. Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz were running strongly in the top three during the first week until they suffered wheel hub issues and slipped back to 19th. After the rest day, they stopped to assist Lategan, when the South African suffered his damper failure, and the Saudi sportingly gave parts of his Toyota's suspension to his team-mate and suffered hefty time penalties as a result of having to wait for the assistance truck. The Riyadh driver fought back to finish 85th overall and had the consolation of outright victory on stage seven. Paraguay's Andrea Lafarja teamed up with Peruvian navigator Ashley Garcia Chavez in another Overdrive Racing Toyota and finished the event in 52nd overall. Lionel Baud and French teammate Remi Boulanger had been running as high as 10th overall during the first week, before slipping back to 13th at the rest day. Sadly, their Toyota suffered a fire just after the start of the ninth stage and damage sustained by the car was deemed too substantial for the crew to continue. Moraes said: "The Dakar never stops surprising us. Right at the beginning we saw Carlos (Sainz) had rolled and we also saw Henk with some problems. We decided that we would just keep things cool. We were very patient today and let some cars go. We're focused on the overall, that's the big picture for us." The final stage of 138km ran close to the Arabian Gulf after a liaison of 167km from Al-Hofuf. A second link section of 100km then guided teams to the finish in Dammam. Al-Attiyah held his nerve, erred on the side of caution and the 11th quickest time was enough to confirm a fifth Dakar victory. — SG
