“You have to put the right people in place”

Each stage of the Dakar is accompanied by its share of surprises, even controversies. The first week saw the exclusions of Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb for the same reason: a deformation of the roll bar after rollovers. Dacia, Loeb’s team, assured there was no danger but its attempts to appeal failed.

Subsequently, the rest day was not for everyone as we learned that Nasser Al-Attiyah lost his victory in the fifth stage, after a ten-minute penalty for a loose spare wheel. . This Sunday, the Qatari was one of the many drivers trapped by a roadbook error, corrected by the organization by not retaining the times for part of the special, won by Lucas Moraes.

The latter was also involved in an incident since a cell phone was found in his car, which is prohibited. The sanction remained lenient since the Brazilian received a suspended exclusion, with no concrete effect on his presence in the race.

The accumulation of these incidents nevertheless displeases Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Dacia driver did not hide his incomprehension. “There are many, many, many”said Al-Attiyah after the seventh stage. “For me, you shouldn’t do that.”

“If we take Lucas Moraes, he should be excluded from the race but that is not the case, he just [une exclusion avec sursis]. What is this rule? Why did I get a ten minute penalty? A rule is the rule. He has a phone in the car, [il tape des mains]exclusion, it’s over. But I don’t understand. We need to work on this because for me, something is wrong. We have to defend our sport.”

The five-time winner of the event admitted to having difficulty enjoying such a controversial race: “I don’t enjoy the Dakar. I advance day after day but each time, something strange happens. I don’t enjoy it at all.”

“When you arrive at a race, you have to have fun, you don’t want politics or unfair things”he added. “When we set a rule, OK, it’s over, it doesn’t have to change every day. We’re not at school.”

Al-Attiyah thus specified that he had contacted Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, to ask him to remedy the situation. : “We wrote a letter. We said we wanted to defend our position, that it was a mistake to receive [une pénalité de] ten minutes. We are working to change the situation. I think you have to put the right people in place.”

Despite these criticisms, Nasser Al-Attiyah remains in a position to win this Dakar. This Sunday, he made up a third of his deficit and even if he remains fourth, he is only 21’57 behind the leader, Henk Lategan: “In the end, I can win. For the moment I haven’t won a single special but every day… We’ll see.”

“20 minutes is nothing”he insisted. “There are five days left and we try to do our best every day. I will do my best to make up this time and to win.”

Comments collected by Mario Galán

Photos from the seventh stage of the Dakar