
Dakar legend Stephane Peterhansel led across the opening 282km of Wednesday’s 425km special stage running, finding better speed and rhythm with his Audi RS Q e-tron E2 over the sand and dune terrain after heavy rain on Tuesday, but he was reeled in by Loeb over the gravel and rocky landscape that ended the stage.
The nine-time World Rally champion officially took the lead on the stage at the 327km waypoint, which the Bahrain Raid Xtreme driver held on to at the finish by just 13 seconds from Peterhansel. It marks Loeb’s 17th career Dakar Rally stage win and his first at the 2023 event.