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 steering rack – 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 4×4 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…
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