Nasser Al-Attiyah's “mind games” are not working well for him. After saying that the Audi cars will go home in three days, not only are they still in the race, but all three are in front. 10, in second place I said yesterday that I would win today, and that did not happen. Maybe he'll end up being right later, but for now the 'mind games' have only irritated the Audi guys even more.
After the victory of Toyota Overdrive and Audi, today it was the turn of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team to win a stage this time with Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon (Toyota Gazoo Racing), who beat Matthias Ekström/Emil Bergqvist (Audi Sport) by only nine seconds, while Yazid Al Rajhi/Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Overdrive Racing Team) finished third with a time of 1 minute and 09 seconds, making the Saudi driver the new leader of the Dakar general classification. Three days, three leaders!
The previous race leaders, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi Sport), lost 3 minutes and 29 seconds today, falling to second place overall, now 29 seconds behind Al Rajhi.
Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (PRX Prodrive Nasser Racing Team) finished fourth, a difference of 1 minute and 33 seconds, and they now occupy fifth place in the overall standings, a difference of 10 minutes and 49 seconds.
After the bad luck in yesterday's stage, when they dropped from 5th to 15th overall, today was a better day for Romain Dumas/Max Delfino (Toyota Hilux Rebellion Racing) who finished 5th in the stage, and have now climbed into the top 10 overall. .
After yesterday's stage victory, when they opened the road today, Stephane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger (Audi Sport) faced more difficulties and finished only eighth.
Mathieu Serradori/Loïc Menudier (Century Racing Factory Team) finished seventh ahead of Peterhansel.
With Pau Navarro/Gonçalo Reis (Mini
Seth Quintero/Denis Zenz (Toyota Gazoo Racing) had another bad day and were only 13th, losing another 22 minutes and 42 seconds, and Sébastien Loeb/Fabien Lurquin (BRX Prodrive) fell behind again, losing third overall, relegating to Ninth place after they gave up another position. 23m 41s.
Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota Overdrive Racing) lost almost half an hour, falling to 12th overall.
Nani Roma/Alex Haro Bravo (M-Sport Ford World Rally Team) finished 17th and 16th in the M-Sport team's Dakar debut, and today they were even worse, losing 33 minutes and 29 seconds, dropping to 18th.
Today's movie
Guerlain Chicherit, who this year swapped his BRX Hunter for a Toyota Hilux, recorded the best times in the first intermediate point, ahead of his Overdrive teammate, Guillaume De Mevius (14 seconds behind). Romain Dumas placed a third Toyota in the provisional top three, 20 seconds behind the then leader. Stephane Peterhansel, the first driver to take to the track today, lost more than two minutes after 26 kilometers. The day was more complicated for Seth Quintero, who was about four minutes behind Chicherit.
However, Guerlain Chicherit lost 20:08 seconds at the next intermediate point, leaving the stage lead to his Toyota teammate, Romain Dumas. Guillaume De Mevius was only 7 seconds behind Dumas.
At point 5, about halfway through the stage, Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota Overdrive Racing) was already 43 seconds ahead of Romain Dumas/Max Delfino (Toyota Hilux Rebellion Racing) with Denis Krotov/Konstantin Zeltsov (Toyota Overdrive Racing) a little further back. .
Shortly afterwards, Nasser Al-Attiyah also maintained a good pace in his BRX Prodrive and recorded the third best provisional time, just 8 seconds behind the then leader. 10 cars were less than a minute behind, with Carlos Sainz in 10th, just 53 seconds behind Dumas. Today we were facing a close battle!
But there were also those who were late again. Stephane Peterhansel / Edouard Boulanger (Audi Sport) were already 2 minutes and 17 seconds behind, Sébastien Loeb / Fabien Lorquin (BRX Prodrive) were already 3 minutes and 39 seconds behind, and Carlos Sainz / Lucas Cruz (Audi Sport) were losing almost five minutes.
After a distance of 135 km, Yazid Al Rajhi took the lead in the Dakar in the virtual general classification. Carlos Sainz, who lost almost 5 minutes from the start of the special, took second place by default, ahead of Guillaume de Mevius, who moved ahead of Sébastien Loeb.
Guillaume de Mevius was no longer leading after 249 km. Romain Dumas overtook the Belgian driver, who led by a margin of one minute and 23 seconds. Lucas Moraes, also driving a Toyota Hilux, finished third, 6 seconds behind Guillaume de Mevius. Carlos Sainz closed the gap on Dumas to 3 minutes and 19 seconds and was less than 20 seconds behind his Audi teammate. Sébastien Loeb and Stephane Peterhansel, who opened the special, were side by side, 7 minutes behind the current stage leader.
Guillaume de Mevius stopped after 268 km and lost more than a quarter of an hour before resuming the race. The Belgian reached the 310-kilometre mark, approximately 25 meters ahead of the new stage leader, Brazilian Lucas Moraes.
After 404 kilometers, the last time before the finish line, Sébastien Loeb was following Nasser Al-Attiyah, the stage leader at that time, by more than 22 minutes and 40 seconds.
Note: With the arrival of competitors, positions can change at any time.
Image ASO_F.Le_Floc_h_DPPI
“Writer. Communicator. Award-winning food junkie. Internet ninja. Incurable bacon fanatic.”