The 371km loop around AlUla and back to the bivouac was another exciting affair – Carlos Sainz, the rally leader by 20½ minutes after yesterday’s stage and his only rival Sebastian Loeb spent the entire stage outside of the top 10.
Well outside. Both were forced to stop in the stage for unknown reasons at the time of writing; Sainz for 10 minutes at km 248 and Loeb for five minutes at km 300.
The virtual lead was down to 4 minutes at one point, as fortunes ebbed and flowed. At km 307, Loeb was up to 12th while Sainz was mired in 23rd…
When warring Audi and Hunter crews arrived at the end of the stage, they had hauled themselves up from a low of 31st for Sainz and 26th for Loeb at km 91 to 17th and 25th respectively. More importantly than his stage ranking, Loeb had taken a third out of the Spaniard’s lead with two stages to go, cutting it to 13:22.
The top 10 had a similar feel to that of stage one, where a number of unexpected names filled the timesheets.
Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq won their first stage in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux T1U and became the rally’s seventh different winner. The French duo led virtually from start to finish, only briefly dropping off the lead at km 91 when Matias Ekström set the pace, but from then on, they never came under serious threat from the chasing pack.
Over the first half of the stage, Denis Krotov was the biggest threat in another Overdrive Hilux but the Kazakhstani driver faded to 29th. His place was taken by Romain Dumas in his Rebellion Toyota but dropped away to fifth at the finish.
South African Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer had a spectacular run to second, giving the new Century Racing CR7-turbo-Audi its maiden podium after a torrid Dakar to date, ending 5:43 off the lead.
Lithuanian Benediktas Vanagas and Estonian co-driver Kuldar Sikkmade their stage podium debut in their Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics Hilux, followed by Eugenio Amos and Paolo Ceci in a third Overdrive Toyota in fifth.
Mathieu Serradori/Loic Minaudier made it two Century Racing machines in the top six, continuing their rich vein of form. Christian Baumgart/Alberto Andreotti was the leading Prodrive Hunter team home in seventh, followed by Juan Cruz Yacopini/ Daniel Oliveras Carreras in a third Overdrive-entered Hilux.
The ever-present Czech Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka ended ninth in their Orlen Jipocar-entered Ford Raptor with Guillaume de Mevius/Xavier Panseri rounding out the top 10 in a fourth Overdrive Toyota.
Toyota Gazoo Racing had a bad day with, for the first time, none of their five-car fleet in the top ten. Saood Variawa/Francois Cazalet top-scored for TGR with 11th followed by Lucas Moraes in 12th.
The standout drive of the day goes to Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dryer, the reigning South African Rally Raid Champions who started 51st on the road and raced their M-Sport/NWM Ford Ranger T1U to the 14th fastest time.
Stage 10 results:
Chicherit, Baragwanath (+5:43), Vanagas (+6:04)
Overall: Sainz, Loeb (+13:22), Moraes (+1:02:44)
Ricky Brabec has grabbed his first stage win in this Dakar and extended his overall lead over Ross Branch, who came in seventh at 3′45″. Nacho Cornejo was second at 2 seconds and Adrien Van Beveren third at 20. VBA escorted Brabec at the front of the race today, a task that will fall upon Nacho tomorrow. Sherco’s Indian Rally 2 rider, Harith Noah, took a career-best fifth place in the stage.
