Home All Stories De Mevius, Luppi Maintain Leads in 2023 Dakar Rally as Event Approaches...

20230106DAK0103 A.S.O. F.Gooden DPPI — 401 GOCZAL Marek (po), MARTON Maciej (po), Coban-Energylandia Rally Team, BRP, SSV, FIA W2RC, action during the Stage 6 of the Dakar 2023 between Hail and Al Duwadimi, on January 6th, 2023 in Hail, Saudi Arabia - Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

De Mevius, Luppi Maintain Leads in 2023 Dakar Rally as Event Approaches Halfway Point

January 6, 2023

Guillaume De Mevius (T3 Lightweight Prototype) and Rodrigo Luppi (T4 SSV) remain out front in the UTV class standings as the 2023 Dakar Rally completed Stage 6 today with 357 kilometers of special stage from Ha’il to Riyadh. De Mevius extended his T3 lead by 1:39 over AJ Jones and 2:26 over Seth Quintero as the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team members finished second and third on stage, the same spots they hold in the overall rankings.

20230105DAK0027 A.S.O. F.Gooden DPPI — 303 JONES Austin (usa), GUGELMIN Gustavo (bra), Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing, Can-Am, SSV, FIA W2RC, Motul, action during the Stage 5 of the Dakar 2023 around Hail, on January 5th, 2023 in Hail, Saudi Arabia

Jones’ deficit to De Mevius in the overall now sits at 8:59, while Quintero has a 1:08:15 gap to first. Nonetheless, he’s still a further hour and a half clear of the next two racers, Red Bull Can-Am Factory drivers Chaleco Lopez (last year’s winner) and Cristina Gutierrez. Mitch Guthrie Jr. rebounded from losing both the overall lead and any shot of an overall win in yesterday’s disastrous Stage 5 to post a fifth place finish in Stage 6.

Luppi may have only finished fifth on the day in T4, and more than six minutes off the winning pace, but he managed to gain a further seven minutes on Eryk Goczal in the overall rankings to stretch out his lead to more than 20 minutes. It was Goczal’s father Marek and brother Michal who posted the top two times on stage today, separated by just 2:26, with Gerard Farres completing the top three. While Luppi’s advantage grew on the field, the gap between new second place runner Rokas Baciuska and Michal Goczal in sixth is less than 15 minutes.

20230105DAK0018 A.S.O. F.Gooden DPPI — 428 GOCZAL Eryk (pol), MENA Oriol (spa), Coban-Energylandia Rally Team, BRP, SSV, FIA W2RC, action during the Stage 5 of the Dakar 2023 around Hail, on January 5th, 2023 in Hail, Saudi Arabia

2023 Dakar Rally Stage 6 winners were as follows:

Lightweight Prototype: Guillaume De Mevius, 3:39:43
SSV: Marek Goczal, 3:43:18

2023 Dakar Rally class leaders are as follows:

Lightweight Prototype: Guillaume De Mevius, 27:55:22
SSV: Rodrigo Luppi, 29:02:55

Coverage of today’s Dakar Rally action will debut on Peacock at 6:30PM ET. This year’s route has seen multiple adjustments for the coming days after the bivouac couldn’t be installed in Al Duwadimi in time due to the weather. The new Stages 7 and 8 will operate in marathon mode, with their original paths flipped and vehicles locked away between them on the altered route after a brief assistance zone following tomorrow’s 333 kilometers of special stage.