The first double-digit stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally is also the shortest in Special Stages at just 114 kilometres versus 509 km in liaison as competitors prepared for the Empty Quarter Marathon. No matter the length, Sébastien Loeb was primed to be one of the top contenders and he delivered as he won his third straight leg in T1.
Loeb cleared Mattias Ekström by over three minutes, the latter giving Audi their best finish since the now-exited Carlos Sainz‘s runner-up in Stage #5. After an unusually poor outing in the previous leg for the Toyota Hilux, Lucas Moraes finished on the podium ahead of overall leader and Toyota ally Nasser Al-Attiyah. Although Al-Attiyah has now gone two stages without a podium, his massive lead in the general classification remains as it shrank by just twenty-three seconds (1:21:57 over Moraes to 1:21:34).
After joining their fellow Prodrive Hunter Loeb on the T1 podium in Stage #9, Guerlain Chicherit and Vaidotas Žala‘s luck ran out in the tenth. Chicherit was off rhythm but mustered a tenth, while Žala’s Hunter broke its left lower and upper arms after hitting a hole.
Skyler Howes surrendered the Bikes overall in amusing fashion when he performed a trick while airing onto a particularly soft dune but lost control on the landing and fell, upon which Kevin Benavides capitalised to sneak ahead by 1:29 after finishing third. Ross Branch, who stole the show in Stage #8, notched a second victory in RallyGP ahead of Adrien van Beveren.
“It was a really good day, though it started off slow in the morning, and I battled to get going in
the sand, but I started having a lot of fun halfway through the stage,” said Branch. “I did make a few mistakes here and there, but I pushed on really hard, and I’m so grateful to get the win at the end. It has been a long week so far, and to get two stage wins in the Dakar means a lot.”
Marcelo Medeiros won the Quad category for the first time, while Simon Marčič scored his first in Malle Moto and Gerard Farrés in T4. Pascal de Baar was also a new winner in T5, in which Janus van Kasteren has assumed the overall lead after Aleš Loprais withdrew due to the death of a specator in Stage #9.
Rally2 rider Edouard Leconte fractured his fibula after crashing into a gorge 130 kilometres in. He had previously announced 2023 would be his final Rally on a bike.
Stage #10 winners
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 200 | Sébastien Loeb | Bahrain Raid Xtreme | 1:48:32 |
| T2 | 246 | Akira Miura* | Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body | 2:57:38 |
| T3 | 301 | Seth Quintero | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 1:55:17 |
| T4 | 402 | Gerard Farrés* | South Racing Can-Am | 1:58:22 |
| T5 | 507 | Pascal de Baar* | Riwald Dakar Team | 2:09:46 |
| RallyGP | 16 | Ross Branch | Hero MotoSports | 1:44:00 |
| Rally2 | 111 | Michael Docherty | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racng | 1:44:30 |
| Malle Moto | 50 | Simon Marčič* | Marčič | 2:08:03 |
| Quad | 159 | Marcelo Medeiros* | Taguatur Racing Team | 2:04:28 |
| Classic | 750 | Urbano Alfonso Gherardo Clerici* | Tecnosport | 12 points |
Leaders after Stage #10
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 200 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 36:13:37 |
| T2 | 250 | Ronald Basso | Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body | 66:16:43 |
| T3 | 304 | Guillaume de Mevius* | GRallyTeam | 41:45:58 |
| T4 | 400 | Rokas Baciuška | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team | 43:17:29 |
| T5 | 502 | Janus van Kasteren | Boss Machinery Team de Rooy IVECO | 43:00:53 |
| RallyGP | 47 | Kevin Benavides | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 35:46:06 |
| Rally2 | 17 | Romain Dumontier | Team Dumontier Racing | 37:38:14 |
| Malle Moto | 40 | Charan Moore* | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racng | 42:14:52 |
| Quad | 151 | Alexandre Giroud* | Drag’on Rally Team | 44:35:00 |
| Classic | 778 | Juan Morera* | Toyota Classic | 336 points |
