Local Saudi driver pips Peterhansel

Sakaka – Toyota’s Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi took the Dakar Rally marathon seventh stage honours yesterday, the home hope denying Stephane Peterhansel, the overall leader in pursuit of his 14th title.

Mini driver Peterhansel was on target to cross the line first at the end of the arduous 453km timed special featuring sand mountains between Ha’il and Sakaka.

But Al-Rajhi had other ideas, and with the benefit of his experienced co-driver Dirk Von Zitzewitz, an 18-Dakar veteran, he took command around 100km out.

He secured his first stage win in the event since his debut in 2015 with 48 seconds to spare over Peterhansel, with Carlos Sainz third, one minute and 15 seconds down.

In fourth came Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who is now seven minutes and 53 seconds behind Peterhansel overall, with last year’s champion Sainz over 40 minutes adrift in third.

Peterhansel, 55, first competed in the Dakar in 1988, the year leader Ari Vatanen’s Peugeot 405 was infamously stolen in Bamako, with a ransom for its return demanded.

It turned up eventually, but too late for Vatanen.

Since then Peterhansel has made motorsport’s toughest test an annual pilgrimage, and with 13 wins on both two and four wheels, he has rightly earned his nickname “Mr Dakar”.

He now has six podium finishes in seven stages and will be hoping to get his first win of 2021 on today’s eighth stage from Sakaka to Neom.

In the motorbikes, defending champion Ricky Brabec took the seventh stage win in a time of 4:37:44, .

The American, winner of the prologue, was two minutes and seven seconds clear of Honda’s Chilean rider Jose Ignacio Cornejo, the new overall leader. –