First victory for Electric Audi, heavy blow for Leb in the Dakar Rally

The special stage from Al Artaviya to Al Qaisuma in Saudi Arabia, the third test of this year’s Dakar Rally, was shortened to 255 kilometers after the storm on Sunday.

Carlos Sainte won his 40th victory in a special race with a difference of 38 seconds against Hank Lategan from Toyota and 1:41 minutes ahead of Stefan Petrancell, with the other Audi, which, as we recall, is powered by three electric motors and only one gasoline engine to charge the battery that powers the electric motors.

Race champion Nassel Al Atiya, the works Toyota Gazoo Racing with the Hilux T1 +, was just eight years old – followed by Lategan most of the time.

Nevertheless, the driver from Qatar extended his lead at the front of the race to 37 minutes and 40 seconds before the second Sebastian Leb and, after the big problems, already seems to be the favorite for the fourth victory of his career in Dakar, the Frenchman and they left him with the 22nd year of the day.

The nine-time WRC champion ran out of two-wheelers on the Buggy Hunter prepared by Prodrive and he lost more time with two bumps. So he has to hope with the problems of Al Attiya to get his coveted first victory in Dakar. Even Sainth has no hope, because after the navigation error on the first day he is in 26th place of the general, 2:19:21 behind Al Atiya.

Overdrive Toyota’s Lucio Alvarez climbed to third overall after Gaziel’s Ziniel de Viger imposed a 5-minute penalty for beating Chilean motorcyclist Cesar Zoumaran on the special stage and he kept checking to see if he was hurt.

In fact, the South African is under investigation for a second incident: While crossing a hill, he unexpectedly ran into a driver who was trying to lift his motorcycle. The driver managed to escape, but De Viger did not press the accelerator and the crashed motorcycle overturned, causing great damage. He didn’t stop this time either. De Viger is unlikely to be nominated for this year’s Fellowship or Humanity Prize.

As every year, there is an exciting duel on the motorcycles: After today’s 3rd qualifying at the front of the race, GasGas’ Sam Sunderland and Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren split by just 4 seconds (!) – because the Briton only turned 17 today Lose 7:30 minutes.

Also in the fight are KTM 2018 winners Matthias Walkner and Husqvarna Slayer House, who finished 1:30 and place respectively.

Saunders could even have cut this difference in half if he hadn’t lost 4 minutes on the final 35 kilometers of the special stage. The Australian from GasGas was responsible until the very last moment and enabled the Portuguese factory hero Joaquim Rodr .guez to achieve both his own and the Indian company’s first Dakar-specific victory.

The two-time works winner Toby Price from the works KTM scored points in the second year one minute behind Rodrεςguez, but with his bad start in the previous days he is in 14th place of the general, 26 minutes behind Sunderland. 2020 race winner Honda Ricky Brabek is even further down, in 20th place, 50 minutes away.

The impressive rookie Mason Klein, the only 20-year-old BAS KTM rider, who today reached the third year of the day with a difference of 11 seconds to Price, has eleven seconds ahead of Price in general.