Find out how things stand at the Dakar Rally’s halfway point

Monday sees the 2023 Dakar Rally take a brief pause for rest and repairs, so what better time to recap the key action, biggest moments and current standings at halftime in the epic rally-raid adventure. Here is all you need to know:

Key Info

Discover all the key info from the event, including the rally map & participants, HERE
Armchair expert’s guide to everything you need to know about the 2023 race HERE
Watch all the daily action from each stage HERE
Listen to all the essential audio quotes HERE
All editorial content is available HERE
See the latest race standings HERE

January 9 | Rest Day | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

With the competitors enjoying a well-earned rest day in between Stages 8 and 9, here’s how the Dakar 2023 has played out so far:

Key moments:

Stage 1: The legendary Carlos Sainz makes a fast start in the Cars, but defending champion Sam Sunderland crashes out in the Bikes.

Stage 2: Reigning Cars champ Nasser Al-Attiyah hits back with a big stage win.

Stage 3: Heavy rain causes a day of upsets and washes out the lightweights.

Stage 4: A gruelling stage sees the first win of 2023 for Sébastien Loeb.

Stage 5: Al-Attiyah grabs the outright lead while Toby Price and Kevin Benavides move into podium positions in the Bikes

Stage 6: A massive 1,000km stage and huge floods see Stéphane Peterhansel crash out

Stage 7: Al-Attiyah comes to the fore again after acing a navigational challenge and bagging another stage win.

Stage 8: Loeb wins a dramatic stage ahead of Sainz as the competitors head into the Rest Day.

Quotes:

Nasser Al-Attiyah, Toyota Gazoo Racing [1st place, Cars]: “It was a very important week for us, and now, for the second week, we need to be really careful to manage everything and bring it home.”

Lucas Moraes, Overdrive Racing [3rd place, Cars]: “It’s really amazing to be in this position. Even in all my best dreams, I never thought to be in third here at the Rest Day now, but we just kept plugging away and kept a good pace throughout the whole week. We never had a big problem, which is great. The car is amazing, and Timo [Gottschalk, co-driver] is really smart sometimes. The strategy is working, and we’ve got to keep doing it.”

Toby Price, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing [4th place, Bikes]: “We lost a little bit of time on the last day, but I think our overall position is still decent. We’ll wait and see what the second week will bring.”

Overall standings:

Bikes

1. Skyler Howes – 30h 34m 16s
2. Kevin Benavides – +13s
3. Mason Klein – +13s

Cars

1. Nasser Al-Attiyah – 31h 02m 58s
2. Henk Lategan – +1h 03m 56s
3. Lucas Moraes — +1h 20m 22s

Trucks

1. Ales Loprais – 36:30:58
2. Martin Van Den Brink – +16m 17s
3. Janus Van Kasteren – +38m 03s

Quads

1. Alexandre Giroud – 37h 57m 04s
2. Manuel Andujar – +01h 41m 37s
3. Pablo Copetti – +01h 42m 12s

T3s

1. Guillaume de Mevius – 36h 03m 09s
2. Austin Jones – +03m 19s
3. Seth Quintero – +01h 02m 25s

T4s

1. Rokas Baciuška – 37h 33m 31s
2. Marek Goczal – +04m 34s
3. Eryk Goczal – +05m 48s

Explore more Dakar 2023 content HERE

The 2023 Dakar Rally is located in Saudi Arabia and runs from December 31, 2022 – January 15, 2023.