Leb is fighting against a complete reversal of the motorcycles at the Dakar Rally

On a chaotic 402-mile route from Riyadh to Daudimi, Sebastian Leb started a counterattack with the Prodrive BRX Hunter after the navigation errors on Friday that brought him back to 3rd place.

The Frenchman showed his skills on the first 100 kilometers in the dunes and reached the finish line 5:26 minutes faster than Al Attiyah from Toyota Gazzo Racing, who has been at the forefront of the race from day one. It was Leb’s 16th victory in a Dakar special.

The difference has been reduced, but 45 minutes is too much for Leb to bridge – in view of the experience of the three-time winner Al Attiyah – and achieve his first victory in Dakar. “We’ve only played half of the race, so I’ll keep pushing. I’ll do my best in every qualifying and we’ll see where that can lead us.”said the nine-time WRC champion.

For his part, Al Atiya emphasized: “The second week of the Dakar is a completely different race. I don’t have a specific strategy. If we have a chance to win the qualification, we won’t miss it and our priority is to give everything we can every day we have, with the hope that it will pay off in the end. “

Carlos Saint stood in the sand for the first 100 kilometers in the battle for victory – but then, as the Spaniard said, “We got lost at least three or four times. You can be 30 meters from a hidden time checkpoint and still have no success.”.

With this, Sainth ran out of place in the third year of the day, ahead of his Audi colleague Stefan Petrancell. The Frenchman has been out of action since day one because he broke the entire rear axle and suspension and didn’t finish the opening qualifying. Today he had another bite and also stopped at the dunes to change a belt.

With the three electric Audi RS Q e-trons in the highest position of the general (12th) now lies Matthias Ekstrom, who has hopes of a place in the top ten, while Sainth moved up to 18th place.

On the motorcycles, GasGas saw its two riders within a few hours, the champion until yesterday General Sam Sunderland and the pedestrian Daniel Saunders, who lost the first reason for the victory.

First, Saunders fell on the easy run that morning and sustained crush fractures in the elbow and wrist of his left hand, taking him out of the race. Later, in the specialty, Sunderland lost a total of 20 minutes with several navigation problems, which were partly due to the fact that Sunderland was the first to start in a specialty that he referred to as “casino” at times.

Sunderland started the day two and a half minutes ahead of Matthias Walkner, but is now in fourth place, 5:38 minutes ahead of new Yamaha works champion Adrien van Beveren.

“This special was very, very difficult to navigate, and it wasn’t ideal to start first“Said Sunderland, who will take their second win after 2017.”The rain had wiped out many of the navigator’s footprints and was a bit like being in a casino. You just flip a coin and hope. It was a little annoying, but the next few days will be similar for others. I am sure we will have opportunities to attack in the next few days“.

The special stage was won by the factory Honda’s Jose Ignacio Cornejo, but KTM’s second general Matthias Walkner’s navigation problems allowed Van Beveren to take the lead, even though he was only 10 years old.

However, the Frenchman has the disadvantage of the first starting and navigation position in tomorrow’s 8th special stage – as with the shocking overturning on the two wheels, he is now followed by 6 drivers with an interval of 5 to 8:30 minutes, all of whom are victorious.

“I tried to attack wherever I could, but the specialist hid traps in the navigation.said the Yamaha rider. “I’ll do everything I can to defend my lead, but without anything crazy. My goal is to finish. I’ve said it from the start and I’ll use my experience for it. But I’ll push a lot and when I do in the In the end everything fits together, it will be fantastic “.

As for the Greek crew, Vangelis Bersis and Fotis Koutsoumbos started today to regain the positions they lost after the accident on Friday – and they succeeded in the Classic category for their 67th year.

In the previous 6th special stage, the Mitsubishi Pajero was left with a dynamo and on the 150th kilometer it disappeared completely. They had to be towed by other competitors, and the Germans offered their help with sand-clawing for 54 km – until they encountered new braking problems. Then they were simply dragged into the camp by the Italians Rizziari-Gianenkini.

DAKAR RALLYE 2022 – ED7

CARS

1. Al Atiya (Toyota) 23:52:22

2. Leb (BRX) +44: 59

3. Al Razi (Toyota) +53: 31

4. Alvarez (Toyota) +1:15:09

5. Przigonski (Mini) +1: 30: 04

MOTORCYCLES

1. Van Beveren (Yamaha) 23:45:02

2nd Walkner (KTM) +05: 12

3. K. Benavides (KTM) +05: 23

4. Sunderland (GasGas) 05:38

5. αντολίνο (Sherco) +06: 34