‘Mr Dakar’ takes over race lead
MOTORSPORT
LONDON: Record Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel took over from Mini teammate Carlos Sainz as race leader while Qatar’s Nasser AlAttiyah came roaring back in the second stage in Saudi Arabia yesterday.
Frenchman Peterhansel, whose 13 wins on two wheels and four have cemented his nickname of ‘‘Mr Dakar’’, leads defending champion Sainz by 6min 37sec in the car category.
AlAttiyah won the mainly sandy 457km stage from Bisha to Wadi adDawasir to move up to third overall, more than 9min off the lead, from 10th.
‘‘Yesterday we lost a lot of time because we opened the way and it was not really good for us and we didn’t take risks. But today we went flat out and everything is working very, very well,’’ the Toyota driver said.
Peterhansel was second on the stage, more than 2min 30sec behind.
‘‘This morning there was a little, or rather a lot, of stress because it was the first dunes, but also the car was full of diesel which meant it was really heavy. So the priority was not to get stuck,’’ he said.
Peterhansel was still nearly 7min clear of triple champion Sainz, first off after winning Monday’s stage.
The 58yearold Spaniard finished the stage thirdfastest in his XRaid Mini JCW Buggy but dropped to second overall.
Ninetime world rally champion Sebastian Loeb was sixthfastest on the stage, an improvement after punctures and errors on Monday.
In the motorcycle category, Spaniard Joan Barreda took over at the front from Australian KTM rider Toby Price, who dropped to 15th. The stage win was Barreda’s 25th in Dakar competition.
Honda teammate and defending champion Ricky Brabec, of the United States, moved up to second overall.
Eighteenyearold American Seth Quintero became the youngest Dakar stage winner in all categories after leading home the light prototype T3 class.