Dakar 2017: Stage 11 Results In A Tight Race For First

Stage eleven of the 2017 Dakar brought the fight for the top three slots even closer that it was. Sébastien Loeb was trailing teammate and fellow Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel in the general standings. The stage brought the competitors from San Juan to Rio Cuarto and one stage away from the finish in Buenos Aires. Loeb is very familiar with the region from his WRC Rally racing and attempted to take advantage of his experience.

Loeb pushed hard through the entire course. The stage is the last major battle for all racers; stage twelve is a short 64 kilometers (just under 40 miles). Peterhansel started first based on his stage ten win but it wasn’t long before Loeb over took him. Orlando Terranova has been working up through the general rankings pack through the entire race and has finally gotten near the epic battle area owned by the Peugeot drivers. Terranova, Giniel de Villiers and Cyril Despres continued to battle for third place throughout the course.

Loeb won the stage but only by a very short eighteen-second lead because of a blown tire near the end. The time lost produced a sizable five-minute gap between him and the leader Peterhansel.   “The day was really difficult,” Loeb explained. “We had to push really hard at the start of the stage. We did a great first part of the stage. The second part was really a track for me, but I had a puncture on the first corner. We had to change the wheel and Stéphane passed us. We didn’t try so much after that because it was lost. I think the gap is too big for the short stage tomorrow”.

Peterhansel is grateful for his battle with the highly-experienced WRC driver. “It was a big fight this morning with [Loeb]. We lost three minutes on the first part. I think he went on full attack. On the second part, I started first, but I stopped quickly because he was starting just four seconds behind me. But, a few kilometers later he got a puncture, so I took the opportunity to go on the full attack for all the second part. In the end, it was a nice fight. It is really an honor for me to fight with Sébastien Loeb. I know that he’s really fast on WRC type track. He’s my team-mate and we have a lot of respect – the spirit is really good. Just before the last stage we smiled together and joked together so the team spirit is really good”.

Terranova finished the eleventh stage in third place, his best finish yet. The Mini driver has an impressive Dakar history going back to 2005. De Villiers finished a short twenty-four seconds behind him with Yazeed Al Rajhi only twenty-four seconds further behind. Unfortunately, in the general standings, Despres has a pretty good forty-three-minute lead on fourth place, Nina Roma.

Peugeot is still looking great for locking in all three podium finishes for the general rankings. With the final stage being so short, we don’t expect to see much change in the current rankings. That being said, anything can happen! Stay tuned!