2023 Dakar Rally: Loeb continues win streak in Stage 10

The first double-digit stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally is also the shortest in Special Stages at just 114 kilometres versus 509 km in liaison as competitors prepared for the Empty Quarter Marathon. No matter the length, Sébastien Loeb was primed to be one of the top contenders and he delivered as he won his third straight leg in T1.

Loeb cleared Mattias Ekström by over three minutes, the latter giving Audi their best finish since the now-exited Carlos Sainz‘s runner-up in Stage #5. After an unusually poor outing in the previous leg for the Toyota Hilux, Lucas Moraes finished on the podium ahead of overall leader and Toyota ally Nasser Al-Attiyah. Although Al-Attiyah has now gone two stages without a podium, his massive lead in the general classification remains as it shrank by just twenty-three seconds (1:21:57 over Moraes to 1:21:34).

After joining their fellow Prodrive Hunter Loeb on the T1 podium in Stage #9, Guerlain Chicherit and Vaidotas Žala‘s luck ran out in the tenth. Chicherit was off rhythm but mustered a tenth, while Žala’s Hunter broke its left lower and upper arms after hitting a hole.

Skyler Howes lost the Bikes overall when he fell after an errant landing, upon which Kevin Benavides capitalised to sneak ahead by 1:29 after finishing third. Ross Branch, who stole the show in Stage #8, notched a second victory in RallyGP ahead of Adrien van Beveren.

“It was a really good day, though it started off slow in the morning, and I battled to get going in
the sand, but I started having a lot of fun halfway through the stage,” said Branch. “I did make a few mistakes here and there, but I pushed on really hard, and I’m so grateful to get the win at the end. It has been a long week so far, and to get two stage wins in the Dakar means a lot.”

Marcelo Medeiros won the Quad category for the first time, while Simon Marčič scored his first in Malle Moto. Pascal de Baar was also a new winner in T5, in which Janus van Kasteren has assumed the overall lead after Aleš Loprais withdrew due to the death of a specator in Stage #9.

Rally2 rider Edouard Leconte fractured his fibula after crashing into a gorge 130 kilometres in. He had previously announced 2023 would be his final Rally on a bike.

Stage #10 winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	200	Sébastien Loeb	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	1:48:32
T2	246	Akira Miura*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	2:57:38
T3	301	Seth Quintero	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	1:55:17
T4	402	Gerard Farrés*	South Racing Can-Am	1:58:22
T5	507	Pascal de Baar*	Riwald Dakar Team	2:09:46
RallyGP	16	Ross Branch	Hero MotoSports Team Rally	1:44:00
Rally2	111	Michael Docherty	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racng	1:44:30
Malle Moto	50	Simon Marčič*	Marčič	2:08:03
Quad	159	Marcelo Medeiros*	Taguatur Racing Team	2:04:28
Classic	750	Urbano Alfonso Gherardo Clerici*	Tecnosport	12 points

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

Leaders after Stage #10

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Toyota Gazoo Racing	36:13:37
T2	250	Ronald Basso	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	66:16:43
T3	304	Guillaume de Mevius*	GRallyTeam	41:45:58
T4	400	Rokas Baciuška	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team	43:17:29
T5	502	Janus van Kasteren	Boss Machinery Team de Rooy IVECO	43:00:53
RallyGP	47	Kevin Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	35:46:06
Rally2	17	Romain Dumontier	Team Dumontier Racing	37:38:14
Malle Moto	40	Charan Moore*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racng	42:14:52
Quad	151	Alexandre Giroud*	Drag’on Rally Team	44:35:00
Classic	778	Juan Morera*	Toyota Classic	336 points