Benavides won and Price will determine another great day for the Argentines in Dakar

This Saturday the thirteenth and final stage of the 2023 Rally took place in Saudi Arabia and the title will be decided on Sunday.

The Argentinian kevin benavideswho belongs to the Red Bull KTM team, won the thirteenth and penultimate stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia this Saturday and will determine the title tomorrow with his teammate, the Australian Toby Pricewhich leads him as the leader of the general classification by just 12 seconds.

The salteño, champion 2021, all played in the search for his first partial victory in this edition on the 675-kilometer stretch (154 clocked) between the towns of Shaybah and Al-Hofuf, parallel to the border of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

“The Dakar will be determined tomorrow (for now),” Benavides declared on Friday after closing the stage of the Empty Quarter marathon, knowing the the australian gap needs to be closed. The Argentinian he managed to cut the distance by 2 minutes, 28 seconds but not enough to lead the motorcycle category, which on Sunday will offer a tempting result on the 417km route. (136 of the special) until reaching Dammam, on the coast of the Persian Gulf.

Benavides was in first place on the stageleading South African Michael Docherty (HT Rally Raid Husqvarna) and his brother Luciano (Husqvarna Factory Racing), enjoying victory after reaching their destination.

Luciano Benavides had the best effective time but was relegated due to a one-minute speeding penalty.. The victory went to rookie Docherty but it finally went to Kevin when the organization decided to make up for the time lost (23s.) with him helping the Austrian Matthias Walkner, the other member of the Red Bull KTM team.

In his fifth place, Price defended the first position in the accumulated table and reached the final stage as the leader, where he will start with the last according to the reverse criteria established in the regulations to define the competition.

Unless the Red Bull team is ordered to respect the order, the Australian and the Argentine will establish a frenetic bid for a new title in the most intense rally in the motor world. By the wayeitherthe ocean pilot was in charge of clarifying that the team could not influence the resolution of the trial: “No more orders tomorrow, it will be full, it’s all ours. No 12 seconds. This would make a great sense“.

Luciano Benavidesowner of three partial victories in this edition, remains in sixth place in the accumulatedthat by retaining Sunday will allow him to repeat his best historical performance in 2020.

The Argentines JJuan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) and Sebastian Halpern (X-Raid Mini JCW) is ranked seventh and tenth, respectively..

The quads will also have a protocol closure this Sunday while waiting for the coronation of Frenchman Alexandre Giroud, defending champion. The Yamaha Racing SMX Drag’on rider has 40 minutes, 20 seconds in his favor Argentine Francisco Moreno Flores (Dragon), who this Saturday returned to the podium in third place.

*Telam information