Nasser Al-Attiyah at the top —what a shocker! The Toyota leader, paired with his co-driver, Mathieu Baumel, won every race he entered in 2021 except the Dakar (2nd). In 2022, he picked up where he left off with two victories in the first two specials before marking with an X those stages in which he could open up a big gap. Sébastien Loeb and his BRX Hunter were ready to pounce on the slightest opportunity, but the Frenchman lost a lot of time to a broken transmission in stage 3 and then some more to a major navigation error on the eve of the rest day. Yazeed Al-Rajhi has capitalised on these events to insert himself between the Qatari and the Frenchman in second place overall, 48 minutes behind the leader. Combined with Giniel De Villiers’s metronomic performance in fourth place (following the reversal of a 5-hour penalty for an incident with a biker) and comeback kid Lucio Álvarez’s strong showing in fifth, this means that Toyota Hilux T1+ cars make up 80% of the top 5. Al-Attiyah’s nigh-unhindered romp through the Saudi desert has a lot to do with the struggles of his two long-time rivals, Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz, who seem to be running late but are actually ahead of their times. Audi is betting on its RS Q e-tron for the next few editions in its first year as an official constructor, with a view to ushering in a technological revolution. Although no longer in contention for the title, the three drivers racing for the brand with the four interlocking rings have appeared at the front of the race with a great deal of panache on several occasions, landing a stage win with Sainz and sixth top 3 finishes in the specials held so far.
The X-raid buggies that dominated the two previous editions have not made much of an impression in the fight for the top honours, although Jakub Przygoński remains within striking distance in sixth place and can still climb onto the final podium in Jeddah if the upcoming war of attrition goes his way. Behind the big factory teams, several outfits are meeting their expectations and will try to stay the course during the second week, including Century Racing’s Mathieu Serradori (12th) and MD Rallye Sport’s Christian Lavieille (13th), who are ready to launch their assault on the top 10, with perhaps even better prospects for Martin Prokop (9th). Throw BRX Hunter’s stage winner “Orly” Terranova (8th), Russian Vladimir Vasilyev (7th) and Lithuanian Vaidotas Žala (11th) into the battle for the places of honour and there can be no doubt that sparks are about to fly on the road back to the Red Sea.