The Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive), current Dakar champion, reigned this Wednesday over the dunes in the first major stage in the Saudi desert and surpassed the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Audi) overall by 2 minutes and 28 seconds. although the Saudi Jazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) continues to command the classification.
Al-Attiyah refused to play hide-and-seek as many predicted, since whoever won this Wednesday would have to open the track this Thursday in the queen stage of the Dakar 2024, in which the riders will not have the tracks of the motorcycles. In fact, cars and motorcycles will take different routes for two days in the 48-hour time trial over the Empty Quarter, the most inhospitable part of the Arab Rub al-Jali desert.
The champion of the last two Touaregs won his forty-eighth stage in the Dakar, placing himself just two behind the Finnish Ari Vatanen and the Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel, who this Wednesday stopped for five minutes just before reaching the end of the last special stage, which Sainz also did, to ensure that they would not have to open the track on Wednesday.
Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota), despite being just 31 seconds behind the first waypoint, lost almost 27 minutes in the second stage, which made him finish more than 45 minutes behind in the general standings and say goodbye to his chances. to win the Dakar.
Thus, the Qatari will be the first to start in this next 48-hour time trial through the desert and although that, a priori, could be a disadvantage, the five-time Dakar winner stated that he did not care at all because what he wanted was " win the stage", because "there is no strategy" for the queen stage on Thursday and Friday other than "trying to finish the 600 kilometers" that are covered over dunes.
Sainz did have it, who assured at the end of the day that they tried "not to go fast and stop at the end", a technique that will have to wait until this Thursday to see if it was correct: "We have to wait a couple more days to see whether it was good or not," he stressed.
The third in contention, but who nevertheless endures one more day with the lead, Jazeed Al Rajhi, completed another great stage with his Toyota and was just two minutes behind the Qatari, so he faces the great stage on Thursday and Friday with the possibility of remaining in first position until the rest day.
The one who was unsuccessful was Al-Attiyah's teammate, the Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive), who, in addition to the six-minute difference between the Qatari and the Qatari, was penalized with a fifteen-minute penalty for not passing through a 'waypoint', which leaves Loeb more than 43 minutes ahead of the leader, making his chances of getting his long-awaited first Touareg very difficult.
Special mention deserves the Catalan Laia Sanz (Astara Team), who in a terrain that was not very favorable for her, finished 11 minutes and 36 seconds behind Al-Attiyah and three behind the leader of the T1.2 subcategory, in which she is second.
The Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) recovered this Wednesday from his bad fourth stage and won with a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes and 53 seconds on the fifth day of the Dakar 2024, in which the Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero) recovered the lead by 74 seconds over the Chilean Nacho Cornejo (Honda).
Quintanilla also recovered from the six-minute penalty this Monday that made him lose the stage he had achieved and that prevented him from approaching the lead, for which Branch, Cornejo and the American Ricky Brabec (Honda) are now fighting, separated for less than four minutes.
For his part, Barreda, who finished ten minutes and 25 seconds behind Quintanilla, fell in today's session. As a result, he suffered a cut on his nose and went straight to the bivouac medical hospital as soon as the stage finished, although the severity of the incident is unknown at the moment.
The pilot from Castellón would have to open the track tomorrow, a day unknown to pilots and the organization, which this week had an impact on the fact that the motorcycle pilots will travel more than 550km in two days, they will have to sleep in a tent in the middle of the desert and will only count with a "military-style" food ration.
