299 km of the fourth Dakar special Al Salamiya and Al-Hofuf, The races that closed the half marathon did not create a big surprise among the automobile favorites, although the local hero consolidated his candidacy. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (at Toyota). The Saudi pilot finished second in the stage won by Sébastien Loeb (Hunter), but extended his advantage at the head of the general classification. Second-place Carlos Sainz started 29 inches behind Saudi Arabia and managed to emerge unscathed from another tough day, but is now 4:19 off the lead. He remains ahead of five-time champion Al-Attiyah, who finished third with 11.03.
Al-Rajhi considered himself the stage winner until Loeb.cheatHe scored an own goal in the last part of the route, beating the Saudi by a minute 24th partial victory In Dakar. Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz reached the finish line in fourth place, trailing the winner by almost five minutes (4:58).
The Spanish tandem started very well but ran into Dumas’ Toyota, which hindered them: “It took Romain a long time to get out of the way and he followed through the dust. I clicked again”Sainz explained. The Madrid man criticized himself in the demanding Al-Hofuf camp: “It was not a good stage. It could have been much better, even if the time given was not much.”
Despite his discomfort, the reality is that he keeps Al-Attiyah at bay, who is still more than 7 minutes behind, and increases the gap to his teammates in Audi as well. Ekstrom and Peterhansel. The Swedish driver was in fourth place, 17 minutes behind the leader Al-Rajhi, while ‘Monsieur’ Dakar fell to eighth place, 26 minutes behind.
A positive day for Laia Sanz, who once again places herself among the fastest fifteen with car related to Astarafollowed by Nani Roma (13th with Ford).
The ‘damaged’ of the day were Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero. The Brazilian, who opened the track for the first time in his Dakar career, got lost in the first kilometer and lost 10 minutes at the finish line. And the American rookie, Toyota’s young candidate in the post-Al-Attiyah era, suffered a breakdown at the 68th kilometer that caused him to stop and need assistance, saying goodbye to his podium dreams once and for all.