After yesterday’s stage in which they lost time, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (Audi RS Q e-tron) returned to fight for the top positions on today’s stage, the fourth of the Dakar 2023.

The Spanish drivers started from a very late position. A puncture was the only negative part of the stage, which was an attacking one. Carlos and Lucas finished the day third, 1 minute 50 seconds behind the day’s winner, Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) and with Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi RS Q e-tron) second. Carlos and Lucas have cut a few seconds off race leader Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota).

Carlos Sainz: “The stages were more or less fine, except that we had a puncture once. Otherwise a very tough day, lots of ruts, camel grass, sand and some rocky areas. In the final part we were better than at the beginning. We took it easy in the rocky area because we had punctured it once. Happy with the stage. Thanks to the rain there was no dust, because starting from 27th place we encountered a lot of traffic.“.

Tomorrow’s stage
Ha’il > Ha’il: Link > 270 km – Special > 373 km

It will be played on 100% sand terrain in this second loop around Ha’il, off-road capital of Saudi Arabia. You will start the day with small dunes where you will have to deal with the presence of camel grass and then continue through large open spaces dotted with dunes. In this slalom section, the perfection of the technique for overcoming the dunes will be decisive to gain minutes: when the sand is soft, only the experts leave with their time intact.