A spectacular comeback by Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz: after the problems of Al Attiyah, they become Dakar leaders in cars!

Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz They had to go on the attack. They were 9 and 10 minutes behind the leaders. Nasser Al-Attiyahbefore these two most decisive stages. Dakar 2026Nine today and ten tomorrow will form the second marathon stage of the world’s toughest race. And they did not fail. They attacked with all their might, knives between their teeth, and dealt one of the biggest blows of the time. Nani Roma became the new leader. dakar and Sainz He is behind the wheel in second place overall. ford raptor. can’t believe it.

In the unpredictable Dakar, with the three major brands so evenly matched and so many drivers involved, anything can happen. and it happened at some stage Clocked km 410km The Catalan and Madrid native had a perfect plan and made a spectacular comeback to move to the top of the overall standings.

Nani is currently in the lead with a mere 57 seconds difference over C.Alloz Sainz (2nd) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) finished 3rd with a time of 1 minute 10 seconds.. Of course, Qatar will start further back in stage 10, but barring a bad day they have every eye to regain the lead. In 4th place, Henk Lategan (Toyota), only 6’13”, Matthias Ekström (Ford) 5th place in 11 minutes 19 seconds, Sebastian Loeb didn’t shine in this edition and was 21’06” after saving a very complicated day with no direction for the last 200 kilometers.

4 cars will arrive in 6 minutes. 5 in 11 minutes. Equality is extreme. Sainz and many of the favorites had already warned that the Dakar could be the closest and most difficult to win in history due to the large number of high-level brands and drivers taking part. With four days left, five drivers remain in the mix, making it a surprisingly even matchup. The first two of them were; Nani and carlos.

It seems incredible to both of them. Nani recovered to his highest level after beating cancer. and carlos In this stage 5, I had to manage so as not to give up. dakarI was unable to stop the entire route because I was driving without a clutch and with engine trouble. “I’m on the cusp” Sainz said. There was nothing to lose. That took the pressure off and allowed him to accelerate even more. And he does it like a true sensation.

Stage 10, Key: We must protect ourselves.

Starting position was very important. Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz They started after all the “coconuts”, with Forgerol starting from a position further back and giving his all. And those who started first took advantage of a chaotic day. The day started with one of my favorites, Henk Lategan Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), which started in 3rd place overall, damaged its power steering. hilux.

The South African was lucky but at the last minute FIA He made a pit stop to change tires after a rocky patch. The mechanic waiting for him there was able to fix the problem in just over 15 minutes, allowing him to rush off to save the day. Nani had the same luck. He arrived at the location without a spare tire and with two flat tires. Without that pit stop area, Roma would have suffered. In fact, even though I installed a new tire and a spare tire, I got a flat tire again.

Al-Attiyah and Ekstrom get lost.

Then, after crossing 271km, the most decisive moment of the day occurred. Everyone was missing, including the pilot in front. Nasser Al-Attiyah To find the correct road next door, I had to go back and look for another one, which was also wrong Ekström.

Carlos witnessed them during the second failure, but did not follow through. lucas cruz He did not follow the leader and trusted his own navigation. They gave up something to find a way at that point, but found the right path to continue in front of Qatar and Sweden.

Sainz gave his all and was in the lead against Roma, but at the end he received a penalty of 1 minute and 10 seconds.“And you will be passed by other pilots as well. Roma, on the other hand, was given a one-minute penalty. But be careful. It should be cause for celebration for them that they ultimately didn’t win the stage because it meant poisoned candy.

Carlos warned that in the 10th stage he didn’t want to open the track, even in the paint. It will be even more complicated than this 9th special. In this way, Nani and Carlos achieved two goals: to reduce the number of rivals and to avoid the track opening in the 10th stage.

Sainz and Roma don’t start from a bad position

The first part of the job was more than adequate and turned the situation around, but the second, equally important part is missing. They have to think about stage 10. Because the situation is exactly the opposite. Roma and Sainz will start ahead of their opponents and it is normal for them to give up time. how much? That’s the problem. However, the Spaniard will finish from a good starting position without being in the group of leading cars.

Erik Gochar wins the stage His uncle Michal Gochar was second, ahead of Toby Price (and his copy Armando Monleon), Brian Baragwanath, De Moebius and the greats. Cristina Gutierrez attacked with all her might after fixing a steering issue that caused a delay on stage 8 and finished in a very good position on stage 6.

starts after them Sainz is 7th in the starting orderin a very good position with a line of up to 6 cars in front. but, Carlos has all his enemies on his side and has better options. Nani Roma will start in 8th place, just behind the Madrid playerand both must protect themselves thoroughly, and they must do it in the best way possible: on the offensive.

Nani and Sainz are willing to give up the bare minimum and aim to have the perfect day that will bring them closer to the throne. Victory in the Dakar may be at this stage before day 11, when the stones will be another obstacle to overcome.

Their rivals have the option of starting outside the top 12 tomorrow. They’ll be moving a few places from where they left the stage, but either way they’ll have everything they need to get back to scratch for a few minutes. And once again, the ball will be in Sainz and Nani’s court ahead of a difficult Stage 11. The match is in a decisive phase, but no conclusions can be drawn until we know what happens in stage 10. Lategan will start from the back, ahead of Nasser and Ekström, who are 19th. Now it’s their turn to attack. Nani and Sainz will have to protect themselves with all their might.

6th place: Grierez and Laia;

Christina Gutierrez He picked himself up after a difficult day and made it in the best way possible. The woman from Burgos saved Stage 8 and covered more than 70km without power steering, but it took a lot of effort from Dacia’s mechanics, who had to repair and test the car until more than 1am. His Dacia was already at full capacity, in a late starting position, Christina She finished 6th on the stage and 10th overall with a time of 14 minutes 49 seconds.

The cross went to Laia Sanz, but an electrical failure forced a stoppage of more than an hour. He finished the stage in 91st place in 1 hour 46 minutes. Still, he remains in 20th place overall. He would start far back, in the dust, against slower cars, which would put him in a very negative loop until the end of the rally, potentially making what could have been a very good result worse.