Home » Al-Attiyah secures Dacia’s first stage win, new leader in the car category

Al-Attiyah secures Dacia’s first stage win, new leader in the car category

It took longer than Nasser Al-Attiyah had hoped, but his first stage win with the Dacia Sandrider is now a reality! The five-time Dakar winner was exceptionally fast, finally gaining time on the top three. Guillaume de Mevius took second in the MINI, while Yazeed Al Rajhi claimed third.

Henk Lategan, the leader before this stage, had a rough day opening the route. He got lost while searching for a waypoint he had already passed and suffered a flat tire. He finished 11th, losing 16 minutes to Al-Attiyah and, more importantly, relinquishing his lead in the standings.

The lead now belongs to Al Rajhi, who climbed to first place in the Toyota Hilux with three days of dunes ahead. Lategan dropped to second, 7 minutes behind, while Mattias Ekström stayed in third. Ekström, however, is now feeling the heat from Al-Attiyah, who remains fourth, 25 minutes back. Mitchell Guthrie holds fifth, 56 minutes behind.

With three days of dunes remaining, the car category promises to be thrilling. Al Rajhi will give everything to win the rally in his home country, but Al-Attiyah aims for his sixth overall victory, while Lategan and Ekström dream of their first.

Al-Attiyah’s victory also set a historic milestone: he became the only driver to win a stage in 18 consecutive Dakars. Additionally, it marked Dacia’s first stage win and made Al-Attiyah the only driver to win stages with nine different brands. This was his 49th stage win, leaving him one shy of tying Ari Vatanen and Stéphane Peterhansel.

The stage also saw another major crash, as Guy Botterill rolled his Hilux. Fortunately, he and his navigator were unharmed. Meanwhile, Aliyyah Koloc, a young Saudi driver, lost over 2 hours, and Nani Roma had a tough day, losing two half-hour chunks on the stage.

Among the Dutch competitors, Ronald van Loon was the fastest, finishing 26th in his Red-Lined, 41 minutes behind Al-Attiyah. Dave Klaassen came 28th, with Tim Coronel in 35th. The Coronel brothers are steadily moving up after starting at the back. Rik van den Brink finished 36th, Maik Willems 42nd, and Stefan Carmans 45th.

Challengers
Dutch success came in the Challenger category, as David Zille won the stage. Zille drives a Taurus for the Dutch DaklaPack Rally Team, run by Dave Klaassen. He was 11 seconds faster than Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and 2 minutes ahead of Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Nasser’s younger brother.

There were no changes in the overall standings. Nicolas Cavigliasso remains the leader, half an hour ahead of Goncalo Guerreiro and another half-hour ahead of Paul Spierings.

Spierings struggled today, finishing 20th, 33 minutes behind Zille. In contrast, Marinus Streppel had a great day, finishing 24th—his best result of the rally. Gert-Jan van der Valk came 29th, and Lex Peters recorded the 30th-fastest time. Richard Aczel came in 39th. Puck Klaassen had a very bad day, she suffered an engine issue in her G Rally Team OT3. She was towed for almost the entire stage to ensure she reached the finish and lost hours.

SSVs
In the SSV category, Francesco Lopez Contardo took his fourth stage win. He made his move in the final kilometers, turning a 7-minute deficit into a 1-minute lead. Brock Heger finished second, while Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli claimed third.

In the overall standings, Heger retained his lead with an advantage of nearly 1 hour and 50 minutes over Xavier de Soultrait. Lopez Contardo remains third, 2 hours and 7 minutes back.

Roger Grouwels finished 17th, while Sander Derikx took the 26th-fastest time.

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