Dakar Rally: Three-way fight at the top 🎥
The first week of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia is dominated by the three-way battle between multiple winners Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel and Nasser Al-Attiyah. Only after Saturday's rest day do things really get going in the dunes. The highlights from Thursday's fifth stage give a good impression of this year's level of difficulty in a breathtaking landscape. Ideal [...]
The highlights from Thursday's fifth stage give a good idea of this year's difficulty level in a breathtaking landscape.
Ideal terrain
The best in advance: Saudi Arabia proved to be the ideal terrain for staging the toughest cross-country rally in the world. Despite the harshness of the first six special stages, first along the Red Sea and then inland, the organizers and hosts received nothing but praise from all sides. The level of difficulty corresponds to the races held in South America from 2009 to 2019.
Variety at the top of the stage
In sporting terms, too, the rally delivers what was promised and continues to be promised. There were four different winners on the first four stages of the day. However, last year's winner Nasser Al-Attiyah was not among them on the next two stages. An almost inexplicable number of punctures slowed him down on the first days, whereupon he slightly reduced his pace to reduce the risk of punctures.
Buggies at an advantage
However, the son of the desert from neighboring Qatar is keeping up well with the leaders in the fastest of the four Toyota Hilux, although he received a three-minute time penalty to boot. Compared with the two giant-tired John Cooper Works Mini Buggies, which are only rear-wheel drive but have giant tires and tire pressure control and regulation, the pickups and other four-wheel drive vehicles are at a disadvantage on certain passages.
In the second week with the expected sand dunes, this handicap should balance out again, so that an attack by Nasser can be expected.
The three top favorites are in front on the rest day
With the fastest time on the third stage, Carlos Sainz took the lead in his Mini Buggy. The Spaniard successfully defended this lead at the end of the first rally week with third place on the fifth and second place on the sixth stage on Friday.
A broken steering system cost his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel around 20 minutes on just the second day, after which he dropped from second to eighth intermediate place. The best time on Wednesday's fourth stage and Friday's sixth stage, which ended in the capital Riyadh, moved the Frenchman back up to third place.
In the intermediate classification with just over 23h 33' of pure driving time on speed, front runner Sainz has a lead of 7'48 minutes over Al-Attiyah and 16'20' over Peterhansel.
Fernando Alonso holds his own
So far, Fernando Alonso, navigated by former motorcycle champion Marc Coma, is doing excellently. In the dust trail of a competitor ahead, the former Formula 1 world champion and now two-time Le Mans winner collided with an obstacle that could no longer be determined.
The suspension of his Toyota Hilux was damaged, which the duo managed to repair in around two and a half hours. As a result, the Spaniards dropped from eleventh place after the opening stage to 48th position. The following day, the rookie achieved the fourth-fastest stage time. Without making any major further mistakes, Alonso worked his way back into the top 16.
Calm before the storm
Saturday, January 11, is the official rest day. On Sunday, the second half of the rally will start with a further six daily stages. The winner is expected at the finish in Riyadh shortly after midday Swiss time on Friday.
The free sports channel Eurosport1 broadcasts a 30-minute report with German commentary every evening at 11 pm. In addition, there will also be daily up-to-date reports on the Eurosport homepage in German and on the Dakar Rally website in English and French.
eurosport.com/cross-country-rally/dakar
