Nasser Al-Attiyah is a five-time Dakar Rally champion! The Toyota ace put up a strong and consistent drive after his Audi and Prodrive rivals faltered to become the second-most successful driver in the history of the rally-raid. Full report: Dakar2023
In another characteristic display from the Qatari driver, Al-Attiyah switched to a conservative approach once all his rivals had fallen by the wayside, playing the long-game instead of going all-out for individual stage honours.
Although Al-Attiyah was still the outright favourite going into the 45th edition of Dakar, held on a longer 14-stage route from the west to the east coast of Saudi Arabia, there was genuine belief that drivers from Audi and the Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme team would be able to put up a serious challenge to the Toyota ace.
Sainz retired three stages later with his own crash while tackling a dune, but by that time he had already fallen out of contention after encountering mechanical problems on day 2 and a repeat of Peterhansel’s incident at the same section on Stage 6. However, the result still fell short of the Frenchman’s expectations, meaning he will have to wait until at least 2024 to finally add a Dakar win to his list of nine titles in the World Rally Championship.
Another Toyota driver, Overdrive’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, also impressed on his home turf with victory on Stage 7, but problems in Stage 9 left him out of running for a spot inside the top 10.
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