The Latest Breaking News from Nasser AlAttiyah

Audi has faced heavy backlash over the way its motorsport division has been managed over the last few years. The decision to phase out all its sportscar racing programmes and go all-in on Formula 1 has aggrieved even the most loyal fans of the German marque. Even former teams and…

Winning the Dakar Rally is one of the things that every driver in the world dreams of, but it is something that very few can achieve. Whether by quality or luck, you also need the support of a great team, such as Toyota, which, with Nasser Al Attiyah, has won…

Following up on his third stage win at this year’s event, Loeb looked set to carve more time out of Sainz’s overall advantage as he led the Spaniard by three minutes, and nearest rival Ekstrom by one minute, entering the final 100km of the Al Duwadimi to Ha’il stage.

Loeb made a low-key start to Sunday’s 483km test between Riyadh and Al-Duwadimi, but the nine-time World Rally champion was gradually able to make his way to the front, taking his third stage victory of the year with a margin of 7m06s over Toyota’s Lucas Moraes.

Although yet to be officially announced, it is widely believed that Audi will pull the plug on its Dakar programme after the 46-edition of the rally-raid ends next week, having made its debut just three years ago in 2022 with RS Q e-tron.

As the 549km test around Shubaytah resumed on Friday, Loeb sat third in the order behind Audi duo Carlos Sainz Sr and Mattias Ekstrom, with 5m19s to make up and only a third of the distance remaining.

Al-Rajhi dropped out of the fight for victory when he crashed into a dune at the start of the 48-hour chrono stage, suffering severe damage to his Toyota Hilux. 

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 rear tow link - and again on Monday with more tyre troubles.

In an ultra-competitive Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya pass covering 438km, which saw the stage lead swap between multiple runners, a four-way victory fight developed between Toyota’s Moraes, Audi’s Mattias Ekstrom, Overdrive’s Al-Rajhi and defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah for Prodrive.