South African-built Toyota Hiluxes, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel’s Gazoo Racing Hilux DKR T1+ take full management of the Dakar 2023 after a disastrous day for the petrol-electric Audi group as they take the third stage win of the race.

It was additionally Sebastien Loeb’s BRX Hunter’s second trot win; Attiyah took an hour’s benefit within the 1-2-3-4 general classification in the beginning of a Toyota on Friday.

The race was turned the wrong way up when each Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz smashed their second and third-placed Audis on the identical spot, 212 km from the day’s stage. Peterhansel’s navigator Edouard Boulanger injured his again and drove them out of the race. Sainz and Lucas Cruz are stranded within the desert whereas ready for backup to reach.

The thrilling Dakar 2023 biking race delivered its seventh completely different winner in seven days as Luciano Benavides took Skyler Howes house in a Husqvarna 1-2. South African amateurs Michael Docherty, who completed second amongst rookies, and new Malle Moto Authentic chief Charan Moore continued to play the lead. The drama started earlier than the day began in icy 6C temperatures, when the in a single day lodging was moved to Riyadh and the stage shortened by about 100km to 358km after excessive storms within the space.

Peterhansel, Sainz, Al Attiyah, Loeb and Saudi house hero Yazeed Al Rajhi fought early, third general Al Rajhi obtained in bother and stopped. Then the Audis got here out dramatically, leaving Al Attiyah with co-driver Fabian Lurquin to take a simple three-and-a-half-minute win over 9-time World Rally Champion Loeb within the Prodrive Hunter. South African group Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings positioned third on the rostrum, with two South African-made Gazoo Racing Hilux.

Loeb’s BRX teammates Guerlain Chicherit and Vaidotas Zala adopted Mattias Ekstrom’s surviving Audi in sixth place. SA Century Manufacturing facility Racing CR6-T groups, Frenchman Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier, in addition to Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer positioned eighth and tenth, and the delayed SA Hilux group Giniel De Villiers and Dennis Murphy positioned twenty fourth.

That leaves Al Attiyah led by teammate Lategan, rookie Hilux hacker Lukas Moraes, and de Villiers. Ekstrom is about fifth with one other Hilux, forward of Loeb and former Le Mans winner Romain Dumas.

Returning to the highest ten, T1.2 4×2 class chief Baragwanath is ninth general and his teammate Serradori is sixteenth. SA sailors Ryan Bland are in thirty fifth place with Daniel Schroeder and forty third with Tom Bell and Gerhard Schutte. T1.1 class leaders Schroder and Bland and all 4 of the SA Pink-Lined group bases are nonetheless robust.

🚗 After one other win on Stage 6 ⃣ @alattiyahn at the moment greater than an hour forward within the general standings. #Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/c0dMNZSz4p

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 6, 2023

Bikes: Husqvarna rider Benavides seventh completely different winner

Friday’s bike race was a lot simpler. Argentina’s Luciano Benavides beat Fabrika Husqvarna 1-2 towards Skyler Howes and Toby Value’s KTM to turn into the seventh completely different motorbike winner in seven days. Joan Barreda’s Honda completed fourth behind Kevin Benavides’ KTM, Pablo Quintanilla’s Honda, Daniel Sanders’ GasGas and Jose Florimo’s Honda. Flormino led Howes earlier than Howes took over, however was hit by teammate Benavides on the mission.

Howes typically leads the bikes by three minutes. Value is third from Kevin Benavides, Barreda, van Beveren and Quintanilla. Docherty is twenty third general, Moore is thirty second and Department thirty eighth. Gregory sat 71st, Landman eightieth, and Wilken 84th. Dominant Alexandre Giroud was ultimately defeated by Manuel Andujar within the foursome. Giroud went forward of Moreno Flores and Pablo Copetti.

Nonetheless racing on Friday, Janus van Kasteren, Darek Rodewald and Iveco of Marcel Snijders managed related machines from Mitchel van den Brink and Martin Macik in vans. Martin van den Brink, Rijk Mouw Erik Kofman’s Iveco is forward of Thursday’s winner Ales Loprais’s Praga and van Kasteren within the normal classification. Michal led Marek Goczal and general chief Rodrigo Luppi De Oliveira within the T4s from Rokas Baciuska.

The general leaders and GR of Friday’s winners Guilaume de Mevius and Francois Casalet oversaw the T3 prototypes of Ignacio Casale’s Yamaha and Austin Jones’ Can Am after Friday’s Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz wins. SA group Eben Basson and Abertus Pienaar’s GR Rally completed twelfth on the monitor and tenth general, whereas Geoff Minnitt and Gerhard Snyman completed thirty first on the stage and 18th general.

The size and standing of Saturday’s seventh stage, initially scheduled to be the longest stage of Dakar 2023, stays unclear as organizers battle to reorganize following the transfer to Riyadh right now. (Dakar reports by Motorsports Media Courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing)

A powerful runner-up trip right now behind Stage 6⃣ winner Luciano Benavides @skylerhowes110 elevated the general hole to three’31″⏱️#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/YYGQZxmlZB

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 6, 2023