‘Mr Dakar’ Peterhansel roars ahead, Price crashes out
JEDDAH: Overall leader Stephane Peterhansel finally won a stage in the 2021 Dakar Rally on Tuesday to leave his closest rival Nasser Al-Attiyah trailing in the Saudi Arabian desert dust.
The 55-year-old Mini driver, nicknamed ‘Mr Dakar’ for his record 13 wins on two wheels and four, stretched his advantage over the Qatari to 17 minutes and 50 seconds with three stages remaining.
Until Tuesday the Frenchman had not won stage of this year’s event.
Toyota’s Al-Attiyah suffered two punctures on his way to second place in the 465km stage around Neom with defending champion Carlos Sainz, Peterhansel’s X-Raid Mini JCW teammate, only 11th.
The Spaniard, who had to stop and repair his car’s brakes, stayed third overall.
“I wasn’t sure any of us were going to make it, that was a real Dakar day where not only speed counts,” said Peterhansel.
“First we caught up with Carlos [Sainz] who had a puncture, then the same with Nasser [Al-Attiyah]. We played a game of nerves, lost time early, won it all back later.”
In the motorcycle category, Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo stretched his lead to 11 minutes and 24 seconds over Argentina’s Kevin Benavides, who won the stage.
Australian Toby Price crashed and was flown to hospital by helicopter for checks.
The twice Dakar winner had been second overall and was challenging for the lead on his KTM when he crashed after 155km.
At the time of his fall in which he also hurt his left arm and shoulder, Price had actually taken the lead and appeared to be gearing up for a victory before being airlifted to hospital.