Two new winners and narrowing gaps

Two new winners and narrowing gaps
Two new winners and narrowing gaps

After the letdown of the 48H stage and before setting the table again with a marathon stage over the next two days, Tuesday's day at the Dakar looked like a Norman hole. More digestible as soon as the route was announced, the stage was even shortened last night due to the storms that hit the region. There were therefore “only” 327 timed km left to cover to reach Al Henakiyah from Bisha, a technical route at the beginning then smooth running, supposed to serve as a “respiration” to men and machines.

However, we were not done with the dramatic events since, from km 12, Sébastien Loeb rolled over, his Dacia Sandrider flying off to the side after hitting a bump. The Frenchman was able to restart, but he dropped 1h03 from the best time of the day and presented damage, which the FIA ​​checks this evening will make sure to determine whether they are purely cosmetic or not.

Among the drivers who fought for victory in the special, we first saw Seth Quintero (Toyota) take the lead, then Mattias Ekström (Ford), before Lucas Moraes (Toyota) took control for a hundred of kilometers.

Quintero regained the advantage afterwards, before finally being pipped at the post by the young Saood Variawa (Toyota), despite a flat tire at the finish for the latter. Co-driven by the Frenchman François Cazalet, the South African signed, at 19 years old, his first stage victory with a precocious record in Ultimate.

The Minis of Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume de Mévius came out of the woods in the second part of the special and were rewarded with the second and third times, just ahead of Quintero then the Portuguese Joao Ferreira.

Cautious in the initial part, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) did well in the navigation to gradually move up the standings of the special, which he finished in a good sixth place, beating Ekström, Serradori and Moraes. “I am very happy with this performance. We are getting closer overall and the road is still long. I am sure that we will have a good position on the road tomorrow”, holds back the Qatari.

If he keeps the reins this evening, Henk Lategan (Toyota) sees Al-Attiyah take second place and come back to just over seven minutes. Ekström gains two positions and completes the provisional podium less than ten minutes behind the leader. Yazeed Al Rajhi falls to fourth place, ahead of Lucas Moraes who progresses by three positions, while Toby Price sees his delay almost double. Sébastien Loeb, for his part, is now 1h14'45 behind the leader before the marathon stage over the next two days.

Provisional general classification Cars

Motorcycles – First for Santolino, Sanders hot on his heels!

The bikers still had a lot to do in the technical and stony sections of the first part of the special today, before being able to pick up speed on rolling dirt. When setting off at daybreak, leader Daniel Sanders (Honda) was only a quarter of an hour ahead of his four pursuers, namely Skyler Howes (Honda), Ross Branch (Hero), Tosha Schareina (Honda) and Ricky Brabec (Honda), but this day significantly narrowed these modest gaps.

As opener, the Australian did not wait before attacking, best time at the first score, then third at km 69. However, we then saw Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) and Bradley Cox (KTM) emerge, taking advantage of a favorable position as they left this morning just after the first ten.

Lorenzo Santolino leads Sherco to the stage win.

Photo by: ASO

From the fourth score, the trio of Branch, Schareina and Howes gained momentum. Then, while Sanders lost time at the front, Howes continued his comeback by overtaking Branch before giving way at the wire to Brabec. In front of them, the duo who ruled the roost in the special was unchanged and it was Santolino who finally won, a first for the 37-year-old Spaniard.

In the general classification, the gaps have narrowed, so that Sanders now has less than two minutes of margin. Howes carried out an excellent operation by consolidating his second place, although with a very short lead over Branch and Brabec, the latter having taken fourth place from Schareina but for only four minutes. Penalized yesterday, Adrien Van Beveren lost two places to Benavides and Quintanilla, while Santolino entered the top 10 following a penalty for Cox, initially second of the day.

Provisional general classification Motorcycles

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