The French pilot, victim of rollovers, was able to leave. But he lost a lot of time.
At just 19 years old, South African Saood Variawa (Toyota) became, this Tuesday, the youngest car stage winner on a Dakar. The young driver, who is competing in his second Dakar, is 33 seconds ahead of Guerlain Chicherit (Mini) at Al-Henakiyah.
Victim of a series of rollovers from kilometer 12, Sébastien Loeb lost more than an hour on the leaders. Despite a very damaged Dacia Sandrider, the Alsatian finished the special at a strong pace for the end of the special. But he still gave up more than an hour and slipped to 16th place overall (+ 1h14’45), compromising his hopes of a first final victory in the event.
“We were able to continue but suddenly the steering link broke, because of the rollover I think (…) Then we had a problem with the engine overheating. We tried to finish the stage. We got there but in the end we lost an hour”he regretted at the finish of the special.
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Overall, the South African Henk Lategan (Toyota) is still in the lead ahead of a new runner-up, Nasser Al-Attiyah, 6e of today’s stage at the wheel of his Dacia Sandrider, 7’17 behind Lategan. Mattias Ekström places his Ford Raptor on the third step of the podium, just over 9 minutes behind the Qatari.
The auto category rankings
Ranking of the 3rd stage:
1. Saood Variawa (RSA) 3h16:52
2. Guerlain Chicherit (FRA) at 33 seconds
3. Seth Quintero (USA) 1:48
4. Guillaume De Mévius (BEL) 1:55
5. Joao Ferreira (POR) 3:15
6. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT) 3:34
7. Mattias Ekström (SWE) 3:49
8. Mathieu Serradori (FRA) 5:00
9. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 6:14
10. Giniel De Villiers (RSA) 6:32…
12. Henk Lategan (RSA) 7:31…
58. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 1h03:20
General ranking after the 3rd stage:
1. Henk Lategan (RSA) 19h04:53
2. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT) at 7:17
3. Mattias Ekström (SWE) 9:34
4. Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) 11:45
5. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 19:40
6. Toby Price (AUS) 20:17
7. Mathieu Serradori (FRA) 21:15
8. Mitchell Guthrie (USA) 23:40
9. Joao Ferreira (POR) 32:07
10. Seth Quintero (USA) 35:04…
16. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 1h14:45
Belgium
