- This is Attiyah’s fourth title

- Local hero Yazeed Al Rajhi rounds off the podium behind Loeb

As the Saudi sun settled on Stage 12 of Dakar 2022, Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Matthieu Baumel concluded a comfortable win, almost 27 minutes 46 seconds clear of Sebastian Loeb. The Qatari had a dominating season despite garnering only two stage wins. Attiyah’s factory Hilux remained flawless throughout the campaign and Attiyah’s upper hand in navigation helped him gain the lead over veteran rivals bagging his fourth title, first in the Middle East after narrowly missing out last year.

Meanwhile, the BRX team led by WRC champion Sebastian Loeb had a difficult time catching up with the Qatari after losing precious time in Stage 3 following a mechanical failure and had to play second fiddle catching up with the Toyota. Later, there were some navigation blunders as well which prevented the French rally driver to close the gap with Attiyah. Racing in his homeland, Yazeed Al-Rajhi had a consistent run from Day 1, and he claimed his best-ever finish in his very own backyard ending just a little over an hour behind the champion.

Competing in Team Audi Sport two Dakar veterans – Carlos Sainz and Stephen Peterhansel – were on a different league altogether. Plagued with suspension problems in earlier stages, the two legends helped each other in the pure-electric RS Q e-tron prototype. But you cannot keep these old guns from winning and both Sainz and Peterhansel proved why there’s no alternative to experience with their four collective stage wins. Mattias Ekstrom was Team Audi Sport’s best performer finishing ninth in the overall standings.

Comfortable at fourth was Loeb’s teammate Orlando Terranova ahead of Attiyah’s teammate Giniel De Villiers who rounded off the fifth position. Last year’s winner X-Raid Mini had their best finish at sixth this year with Jakub Przygonski.