Marathon-Etape cost Al-Attiyah Dakar-Siegchance | SN.at

2024-01-12 16:46:21

The newly introduced marathon stage of the Dakar Rally cost last year’s winner the chance of his third triumph in a row. The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah had to wait a long time for the assistance truck in the dunes on Friday due to a broken steering on his Prodrive Hunter and fell back to 16th place. Before the rest day on Saturday in Riyadh, he was already more than 2:40 hours behind car leader Carlos Sainz in the Audi.

In the new format, the pilots had to cover 549 special kilometers on the 48-hour stage in the Rub al-Chali desert – and spend the night there in the bivouac that they had reached shortly before dark on Thursday. Al-Attiyah had his mishap 50 km from the finish. The five-time winner said he would now help his third-placed brand colleague Sebastien Loeb. “At least he can maybe win this Dakar.”

Loeb is third overall, 29:31 minutes behind Sainz. The three-time Dakar winner from Spain leads 20:21 minutes ahead of his teammate Mattias Ekström from Sweden. The nine-time rally world champion Loeb seems to be the only man who might still pose a threat to the electrically powered Audis. “It’s a nice moment. But there’s still a long way to go,” said Sainz before the second week of the classic rally.

In the motorcycle category, American Ricky Brabec on a Honda is less than a minute ahead of hero rider Ross Branch from Botswana. The KTM factory riders Toby Price (AUS) and Kevin Benavides (ARG) follow in fifth and sixth place, 27 and 28 minutes behind respectively. Debutant Tobias Ebster also continues to do excellently. The 26-year-old Tyrolean leads in 21st place overall. Even following six stages, the “Malle Moto” classification, in which no external help from accompanying personnel is permitted.

On the marathon stage, Ebster fell on the first day, but fought through and maintained his class lead despite a few time penalties. The Zillertaler, nephew of motorcycle legend Heinz Kinigadner, has to repair his damaged KTM himself in all cases. In the Challenger buggy class T3, Lukas Lauda is in 21st place. The Dakar newcomer is more than ten hours behind leader Eryk Goczal from Poland following the first week.

1705078711
#MarathonEtape #cost #AlAttiyah #DakarSiegchance #SN.at