Dakar 2024, Stage 4: Loeb strikes back to win, Al-Rajhi retains lead

Prodrive driver Loeb sat a distant ninth in the general classification heading into the fourth stage in Saudi Arabia, having lost a considerable amount of time on the opening day due to punctures and a broken rear toe link - and again on Monday with more tyre troubles.

But the Frenchman was finally able to deliver on his potential in the 299km test between Al Salamiya and Al-Hofuf, as he overcame long-time stage leader Nasser Al-Attiyah and home favourite Al-Rajhi in the final three sections to take a conclusive victory.

Defending champion Al-Attiyah led Stage 4 from the very beginning in his Nasser Racing-entered Prodrive Hunter, with Toyota’s Seth Quintero, Overdrive driver Al-Rajhi and stablemate Loeb all trading the second spot as they traversed a variety of terrains en route to Al-Hofuf.

By the penultimate checkpoint, Al-Attiyah had cemented his position as the favourite for stage victory, having built a small but comfortable 24-second lead over Loeb - and stretched his advantage even further over overall leader Al-Rajhi.

But the Qatari driver lost a heap of time in the final 36km run to the finish, allowing first Al-Rajhi and then Loeb to surge ahead of him in the end-of-the-day order.

Loeb’s final winning margin over Al-Rajhi was 1m08s, as he celebrated his 24th career stage victory in the prestigious rally-raid.

The 49-year-old had only been running third with the final 100km of the stage to run but leapfrogged Al-Rajhi at the sixth checkpoint, which allowed him to pounce on Al-Attiyah’s troubles on the last dash to the finish.

Photo by: A.S.O.

#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux Overdrive: Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk

Al-Attiyah slipped to third at the end behind Al-Rajhi, but still finished over three minutes clear of Carlos Sainz Sr in the best of the factory Audi entries.

Stage 1 winner Guillaume de Mevius backed up the performance of his Overdrive team-mate Yazeed Al-Rajhi to finish a solid fifth, beating the next-best Audi of 14-time Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel.

Mathieu Serradori once again mixed with the 4x4 runners in his two-wheel drive Century, finishing seventh ahead of Vaidotas Zala in the X-Raid Mini.

Next up was Simon Vitse in his MD Rallye prototype, while Martin Prokop provisionally finished 10th in a Ford Raptor entered by MP Sports / Benzina team.

It was a difficult day for the factory Toyota team, with Lucas Moraes ending up as the best of the marque’s five-strong contingent in 11th place after dropping 11 minutes to stage winner Loeb.

Quintero's fared even worse as his Hilux crawled to a halt 68km into the stage with mechanical issues. He was yet to finish the stage at the time of writing, ending his chances of an overall podium finish.

With four of the 12 stages now complete, Al-Rajhi continues to lead the overall standings in his Overdrive-run customer Toyota, holding a 4m19s advantage over the Audi of three-time Dakar winner Sainz.

Al-Attiyah has jumped from fifth to third despite a late setback on Stage 4, while Audi's Mattias Ekstrom has gone in the other direction after picking up a two-minute penalty for an unspecified reason.

Victory on Tuesday has elevated Loeb to sixth behind Moraes and Ekstrom, but with a massive 23m50s deficit to make up in the final two-thirds of the rally.

Provisional classification after Stage 4 (Top 10):