Home » Al Rajhi wins first part of the marathon, Al-Attiyah aims for more

Al Rajhi wins first part of the marathon, Al-Attiyah aims for more

During the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally, the first part of the marathon stage, the Toyotas once again proved their strength. Yazeed Al Rajhi took the stage win, marking his first victory in this edition after narrowly missing out earlier when Baciuska was credited with time adjustments. Nasser Al-Attiyah lost valuable minutes and announced his intent to push harder in the coming stages.

Al Rajhi won the stage ahead of Henk Lategan and Juan Cruz Yacopini. Martin Prokop claimed the fourth fastest time, and Denis Krotov rounded out the top five. The Century team had a strong showing as well, with three cars finishing in the top ten: Serradori in 6th, Gastaldi in 8th, and Baragwanath in 9th.

One of today’s unlucky competitors was Al-Attiyah, the only Dacia driver still in contention for a good overall result. He faced suspension issues and suffered a puncture, forcing him to wait for assistance from Gutierrez. At the finish, he stated he would go into attack mode for the remaining stages.

Toby Price also joined the list of misfortunes. The former motorbike rider broke down and had to wait for rapid service. With the challenging second part of the marathon stage still to come, he will hope the damage is manageable.

In the overall standings, Lategan retained the lead, with Al Rajhi closing the gap to just under 7 minutes. Mattias Ekström held onto third, with Serradori in fourth and Moraes in fifth. Al-Attiyah dropped to 7th place.

Among the Dutch, it looked good for Tim Coronel. After a few days of bad luck, they came in 29th. Dave Klaassen recovered and came in 35th. The 40th time was for Rik van den Brink, Ronald van Loon came in 44th. Stefan Carmans came in 49th and Maik Willems drove to the 50th time.

Challengers

It wasn’t a second consecutive stage win for Paul Spierings or Chris Leaverton in the fourth stage, as Nicolas Cavigliasso once again took the victory. The three drivers traded fastest times, but the overall leader ultimately proved quickest. Leaverton finished second, Al-Kuwari third, and Spierings came in fourth. Zille rounded out the top five.

In the overall standings, Cavigliasso maintained his lead, followed by Leaverton and Guerreiro. Spierings held onto fourth.

Puck Klaassen chose a conservative strategy in the marathon stage and that resulted in the 20th time. Gert-Jan van der Valk was 22nd, Lex Peters 26th and the 31st time was for Richard Aczel. Marinus Streppel had problems and is still on his way, he rode via the asphalt to the bivouac.

SSVs

Sara Price won the stage, though the American is no longer a contender in the overall standings. Nevertheless, the victory will undoubtedly boost her morale. She finished just over a minute ahead of Lopez Contardo, with Heger in third.

De Soultrait is still on the course and losing significant time, which means the standings leader is likely to lose his position to Heger.

There was a nice 11th time for Roger Grouwels. Sander Derikx was 13th.

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