SHAYBAH: Sebastien Loeb streaked to victory in the 12th stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday, the French BRX driver`s fifth stage win in a row and his sixth of this edition.

The victory saw the nine-time former World Rally champion move into second in the overall standings behind leader and defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Loeb, whose five consecutive stage wins equalled the record set by Ari Vatanen in 1989, finished 3min 19sec ahead of Sweden`s Mattias Ekstrom, in the last of the three Audi hybrids left in the race.

`It was a perfect day: no mistakes, no stalling, noabout turns,` said Loeb, adding that his goals had been changed by the forced absences of podium hopes Carlos Sainz, Stephane Peterhanseland Yazeed al-Rahji.

`We drove well and the car worked perfectly.

Second place is our goal, that`s why we`re pushing` added the driver whose title hopes were dented with a nightmare first week beset by punctures and rolling his car.

Qatar`s Al-Attiyah (Toyota) retained the overall lead, finishing third in the stage, 3:31 adrift of Loeb, but 1hr 27 min ahead of the Frenchman in the general standings.

`It`s good to finish the marathon stage and bringthe car bacl( in good condition,` said Al-Attiyah, who also previously won the Dakar in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

`If we finish in the top five each day, that`s okay for me, we have a big enough lead. I`m happy with our day and I hope we can continue like this.

Chile`s Jose Ignacio Cornejo, on a Honda, won the motorbike section, finishing 49sec ahead of Daniel Sanders (GasGas), with another Australian, two-time winner Toby Price (KTM), in third (1:58).

The result was enough for Price to leapfrog American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) into first place in the overall stand-ings, 0.28sec ahead, with Kevin Benavides at 2:40.

There remain just two stages of the 45th edition of the Dakar Rally, which kicked off on Dec 31 and ends in the eastern city of Dammam on Sunday.

`I was just trying to keep a good smooth consistent pace and now it`s just two days to go, so there`s not long,` said Price.

`Trying to have a strategy for the race at this point in time is completely out of the window. I`ve just got to stay on two wheels and stay healthy.

`Tomorrow, I`ll try and push really hard, because on the last day it`s a reverse grid. We need to try and see if we can make some really good timetomorrow, but then again you don`t want to push too crazily and risk an injury or being out of the race completely this close to the finishing line.

Howes admitted it had notbeenhisbeststage.

`I didn`t really make it up a couple of the dunes, which was really frustrating,` the American said.

`We`ve still got a couple of more days left, so we`ll keep pushing. It is a bit frustrating when you don`t really nail it on the days, but that`s how the Dakar works.

`There are so many days that you have to be on it and I feel like today I was a little bit off the pace.

It is what it is and we`ll keep pushing.`-AFP