Al-Attiyah on brink of Dakar title; sprint for motorbike win

AL-HOFUF, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Nasser Al-Attiyah should complete the cruise to his fifth Dakar Rally title. Meanwhile, the motorbikes are heading to the closest finish in the race's history.

Only 12 seconds separate former champions and KTM teammates Toby Price and Kevin Benavides after about 3,900 kilometers of racing through Saudi Arabia.

Another 136 kilometers on Sunday are all that's left, a fast beach special to the finish in Dammam on the Arabian Gulf.

Al-Attiyah was second on the 13th and penultimate stage on Saturday, 153 kilometers of dunes around Shaybah in the Saudi southeast.

The stage winner again was Sebastien Loeb for an unprecedented sixth straight time.

Loeb should extend his streak to seven on Sunday but the Frenchman will have to settle for second overall for a second straight year to Al-Attiyah, whose lead of 1 hour, 21 minutes practically guarantees he will win the Dakar just 100 kilometers from his Qatar homeland.

"We just have to bring the title home now,” Al-Attiyah said.

Loeb's streak eclipsed the record of Ari Vatanen in 1989. Also, his seven stage wins in this Dakar are the most since seven by Carlos Sainz 12 years ago.

“It's great, even though the record was not necessarily my goal,” Loeb said. “I especially wanted to cement my second place.”

That was achieved by winning the stage more than five minutes ahead of Al-Attiyah, and 12 minutes ahead of Lucas Moraes, who was seventh. Loeb extended his gap to Moraes, third overall, from two minutes to what should be a safe 14 minutes.

Moraes is set to become the first rookie driver to make the elite car podium since Juha Kankkunen was champion in 1988.

Price, winner in 2016 and 2019, and Benavides, champion in 2021, will have a straight sprint for the motorbike title. With riders going off in reverse order, Price will start last.

Price's 12-second lead on Benavides going into the last stage is the narrowest ever. The previous smallest was 26 seconds in the 2014 car category when Stephane Peterhansel led Nani Roma. But Roma prevailed on team orders.

Benavides, nearly three minutes behind Price at the start of the day, was among the stage leaders until he stopped to help teammate Matthias Walkner, the 2018 champion who crashed after 55 kilometers and had to be airlifted to hospital.

Benavides was credited with more than 23 minutes for stopping, giving him the stage at the expense of younger brother Luciano. Luciano appeared to win his fourth stage until he was penalized one minute for speeding and finished second by 57 seconds.

Price was fourth after a navigation error and Skyler Howes fifth. Howes, the motorbike leader for the longest time, dropped from 28 seconds behind Price overall to 1 1/2 minutes behind in third.

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