Banbury's Prodrive team second so far in Dakar Rally with two days to go

Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin second overall after stage 9 of 12 in two-week event
Bahrain Raid Xtreme's Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin during stage 9 of Rally Dakar 2022 around Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia (PICTURE BY MARCELO MARAGNI)Bahrain Raid Xtreme's Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin during stage 9 of Rally Dakar 2022 around Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia (PICTURE BY MARCELO MARAGNI)
Bahrain Raid Xtreme's Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin during stage 9 of Rally Dakar 2022 around Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia (PICTURE BY MARCELO MARAGNI)

Competing three cars in the two-week Dakar Rally across, mountains, dunes, mud and rocks in Saudi Arabia, Banbury’s Prodrive teams are second, fourth and 47th in the overall event so far.

Having been in action since New Year’s Day, Tuesday’s stage 9 of 12 saw Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin maintain their second place in the rally overall, following the 287kms around the overnight halt at Wadi Ad-Dawasir.

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The Bahrain Raid Xtreme Prodrive Hunter car brought the French/Belgian crew to fifth on the stage before team work on the car to prepare for the remaining 885kms over three stages, before the finish on Friday in Jeddah.

Nani Roma and Alex Haro in their BRX Prodrive Hunter on Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally 2022 around Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia on January 11  (Photo Julien Delfosse / DPPI)Nani Roma and Alex Haro in their BRX Prodrive Hunter on Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally 2022 around Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia on January 11  (Photo Julien Delfosse / DPPI)
Nani Roma and Alex Haro in their BRX Prodrive Hunter on Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally 2022 around Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia on January 11 (Photo Julien Delfosse / DPPI)

Team mates Orlando Terranova and Dani Oliveras thought they could have gone quicker, as they were 13th on stage 9, but the rewards were there in their consistency against their main rivals.

In the Prodrive Hunter they leapt up another position in the overall standings to fourth, their third jump in as many days.

Spanish duo Nani Roma and Alex Haro flew through the stage to be inside the top ten once more and are 47th overall, fighting through huge amounts of dust left in their faces by other cars that they soon passed before a very tricky rocky section.

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Co-driver Haro, who cracked a rib at the end of the first week, is having physio treatment every morning and will bravely push on to get the best for the BRX team.

Action from Stage 9 of the 12 in the two-week Dakar RallyAction from Stage 9 of the 12 in the two-week Dakar Rally
Action from Stage 9 of the 12 in the two-week Dakar Rally

Orlando Terranova said: “It’s brilliant that we take another place overall because the strength of the car is really showing in this second week. I do need to change my mindset to push harder with the tyres through the corners as they are so much stronger than the smaller ones we drove with last year, but saying that we had a slow puncture in a difficult navigational section but there are still three days so we will push and keep the car in good condition. One thing that made me laugh was after I hit a bush on the right it dislodged the bonnet clip to eventually make the bonnet fall off but all I could see in my mind was my engineer’s face saying ‘You lost another bonnet!’ after the one I lost in Aragon last July. It’s still possible we can win another stage on this rally.”

Sebastien Loeb said: “That was a good stage as we pushed hard right from the start even if we had one little puncture as maybe I was aggressive in the stones because I’m pushing for time so we had to change the wheel but that was the only thing today. It was quite something in the early kilometres as over 34 kms I lifted maybe twice… I will continue to push hard, concentrate on doing good stages and we will see where we are come Jeddah but we have quite some time to make up at the moment.”

Nani Roma said: “It was a good day! This morning we had many cars in front so lots of dust but we decided to up the speed and go for it without risking too much so it was fantastic today as the second part was much better for my driving too; it worked really well. We have a good start position for tomorrow as we’re not far behind Seb to bring him confidence if he needs it. Alex was suffering a little in the other seat after he hurt his rib in the roll the other day but we’ve done rally well today.”

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Gus Beteli, team principal said: “A shorter stage today so there wasn’t much to gain when it is that short so with Seb we lost a minute and gained a minute here and there to the overall lead, so he will keep trying tomorrow. A brilliant day for Orly to get up another spot to fourth overall which is higher than his best ever on Dakar so that’s his obvious target, or better, come Jeddah. He’s driving well even if De Villiers is nine minutes behind him so we‘ll keep a watch on that.

Orlando Terranova and Dani Oliveras in their BRX Prodrive Hunter during Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally (PICTURE Julien Delfosse / DPPI)Orlando Terranova and Dani Oliveras in their BRX Prodrive Hunter during Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally (PICTURE Julien Delfosse / DPPI)
Orlando Terranova and Dani Oliveras in their BRX Prodrive Hunter during Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally (PICTURE Julien Delfosse / DPPI)

For Nani to get tenth was very good as he started way back in the dust which was difficult for him but he managed to keep the pace and finish inside the top ten which will be a great help to the other two cars tomorrow when we return to a ‘normal’ stage length at 370 kms and try to get some time back on Nasser.”

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