Kevin Benavides was expecting to win the Dakar by winning this Saturday in the thirteenth and penultimate stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia and this Sunday he will fight for the title with his partner in the Red Bull KTM team, the Australian Toby Price, who won it. leads as leader of the general classification by just 12 seconds.
The 2021 champion from Salta played his entire game in search of his first partial victory in this edition during the 675-kilometre stretch (154 timed) between the towns of Shaybah and Al-Hofuf, parallel to the border with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The Argentine was able to cut two minutes, 28 seconds behind, but not enough to take the lead in the motorcycle category, which on Sunday will offer a captivating outcome on the 417km route. (136 of special) until reaching Dammam, on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
Benavides took first place on the stage, ahead of South African Michael Docherty (HT Rally Raid Husqvarna) and his brother Luciano (Husqvarna Factory Racing). With his fifth place, Price was able to defend the first position in the accumulated table and reach the final stage as leader, in which he will start last according to the inverted criteria established in the regulations to define the competition.
Unless the Red Bull team orders to respect the order, the Australian and the Argentine will establish a frenetic bid for a new title in the most extreme rally in the motor world. By the way, the ocean pilot was in charge of clarifying that the team will not influence the resolution of the test: “There will be no orders, it will be full, everything will depend on us. 12 seconds is nothing. It will be a great definition”.
Price was champion in 2016 and 2019, both with KTM, and Benavides achieved with Honda in 2021 what is so far the only conquest by a South American rider in the two-wheel division.
In cars, Frenchman Sebastian Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) set a new record by becoming the first driver to win six consecutive Dakar stages. The multi-champion of the WRC prevailed over the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and the Swede Ekstrom (Team Audi Sport). In total, Loeb accumulates seven triumphant days, a record that the Spanish Carlos Sainz had last reached in 2011.
Regardless of statistics, the car crown will remain in the hands of Al-Attiyah in the absence of a sports catastrophe. The Qatari, winner in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2022, has an advantage of one hour, 21 minutes and 42 seconds over the Frenchman.