Nicolás Cavigliasso has won the fourth stage in the Challenger category, the fifth different winner in five days. The Argentinian beat Pau Navarro by 2:29 and Dania Akeel by 4:06 in the marathon special around AlUla. In the SSV class, Brock Heger claimed his third victory of this Dakar and extended his lead to over half an hour.
It’s the sixth Dakar stage victory for Cavigliasso in the Challenger class, and his first of this edition. The reigning W2RC champion took the lead at kilometre 234 and never relinquished it, finishing 2:29 ahead of Navarro.
With Cavigliasso’s victory, there has been a different winner for the fifth time in a row: Paul Spierings (prologue), David Zille (stage 1), Lucas del Río (stage 2), Puck Klaassen (stage 3) and now Cavigliasso.
Seaidan retains slim lead
Yasir Seaidan retained the lead in the overall classification, but his advantage over Navarro has shrunk to just 45 seconds. The Saudi lost more than 7:30 to Cavigliasso at kilometre 338, allowing Navarro to close in on the classification. Cavigliasso is now third at 6:45.
“The fight for the top of the Challenger class is far from over,” the organisation concluded when Seaidan lost ground in the final phase.
Akeel finally without problems
Dania Akeel finally had a good day after earlier problems with punctures. The Saudi finished third in the stage, just four minutes behind winner Cavigliasso. “Dania Akeel has finally had a good day after issues such as punctures slowed her down in previous stages,” the organisation reported.
Klaassen fights back after problems
Puck Klaassen came to a halt at kilometre 132 with mechanical problems. The upper wishbone broke, and although the repair would normally take 15 to 20 minutes, the team didn’t have the part in the car. “We had to wait an hour and a half until someone could give us a part,” Klaassen explained.
Help came from an unexpected source: her cousin Pim Klaassen stopped and gave her the necessary part. “I’m very grateful for that. Otherwise waiting for the truck would have taken really long,” said the Dutchwoman, who worked on the repair with damaged hands. She finished 23rd at 1:45:24, but remains determined. “We lose some positions and time of course, but it’s okay. The car looks good, so tomorrow we’ll continue.” In the overall classification she is seventh at 1:38:01.
Kees Koolen fastest Dutchman
Kees Koolen was the fastest Dutchman with eleventh place at 43:07. In the overall classification he is ninth at 1:46:49. Lex Peters finished fifteenth at 52:27, followed by Paul Spierings in 17th at 1:10:02. Spierings stopped at kilometre 81 and lost an hour at the start of the stage, but managed to recover. He is thirteenth in the classification at 2:47:48.
Pim Klaassen, who helped his cousin Puck with the crucial part, lost considerable time himself and finished 34th at 5:06:28. Dick van Culenborg finished 26th at 2:01:48, Daniel Kersbergen 32nd at 3:28:07 and Riné Streppel 33rd at 4:16:09. Henri van Steenbergen did not finish.
Heger dominates SSV class
In the SSV category, Brock Heger claimed his third victory of this Dakar. After the prologue and stage 3, he was once again the fastest, beating João Monteiro by over sixteen minutes. João Dias completed a Portuguese affair on the podium in third (+16:40).
Lead grows to half an hour
Heger extended his lead in the overall classification to 31:41 over Xavier de Soultrait, who finished sixth in the stage. Gonçalo Guerreiro lost more than an hour and dropped from second place to outside the top ten. Alexandre Pinto is now third at 47:56.
Can-Am strong, Polaris dominates
Can-Am placed five cars in the top eight of the stage, with Monteiro (2nd), Dias (3rd), Miller (4th) and González Ferioli (5th) behind Heger. Yet Polaris dominates the overall classification with three cars in the top three.
Richard Aczel finished eleventh with navigator Wouter Rosegaar at 58:50.
