Dakar 2023 | Al Attiyah continues his bull run as Audis fumble, Loeb big winner

Stage 6 of the 2023 Dakar Rally proved to be a series of highs and lows as we witnessed some massive luck and huge misfortune

Nasser Al Attiyah continued his dominant run as Audi's Dakar hopes fadedRed Bull Content Pool

Published on:

06 Jan 2023, 13:40

2 min read

Stage 6 of the 2023 Dakar Rally is one of the longest, and only went to show how quickly fortunes change and legends are made in the toughest rally in the world. Here's what went down.

🎥 First footage of the two @audisport cars which crashed in the same place. @s_peterhansel and Édouard Boulanger had to abandon while @CSainz_oficial and @LucasCruz74 are still trying to fix their car. 🛠#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/14VwkwUsue
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 6, 2023

Nasser Al Attiyah with his Toyota built on his huge lead at the top of the timesheets with a measured drive to win stage 6 ahead of Sebastian Loeb in the BRX buggy and Al Attiyah's teammate Hank Lategan. With this, Toyota now occupies the top three spots in the overall rankings and has a firm grip on the win. For Audi, misery compounded itself when both Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel crashed at nearly the same place, with Mattias Ekstrom the top remaining Audi in 6th place.

Luciano Benavides (Right) on his way to victory in stage 6 of the Dakar 2023Dakar

Husqvarna continued to be strong with a stunning ride by Luciano Benavides helping him claim the stage win. He was followed by his teammate Skyler Howes and Dakar legend Toby Price in his KTM. In the overall rankings, Skyler Howes now leads Toby Price by a slender margin, followed by Price's teammate Kevin Benavides in third place. With so many contenders, this is surely the category to watch out for this year.

Hero Motorsports is not having a good Dakar this year, but stage 6 proved to be a salvationHero Motorsports

Hero Motorsports had a much better day following yesterday's horror that was stage 5. The three riders finished line astern in P15, 16 and 17 as they tried to get back to form. Franco Caimi led Sebastian Buhler and Ross Branch home. In the overall standings, while Caimi and Buhler managed to lose a place apiece with P15 and P28 respectively, Ross Branch improved his position by 6 places to reach P38. The race is long, and Hero Motorsports has proven itself capable of working wonders, so this could be one to watch.

Audi