ST6 I SANDERS AND AL ATTIYAH LEAD AT THE HALFWAY POINT
Daniel Sanders was on a roll on the first big sandy stage leading to Riyadh just before the rest day. Starting from Hail in third position, the defending champion swiftly caught Nacho Cornejo and then his teammate Luciano Benivades on his way to finishing the special stage alone and gobbling up a considerable chunk of the bonuses on offer to the opener (2'40’’), providing him with sufficient time to pull away in the overall rankings. However, the Australian, probably got carried away by his enthusiasm and neglected to respect a speed limit, which was a mistake that will cost him a six-minute penalty.
Although he was beaten on the tracks, Ricky Brabec will reap the rewards of his consistency at the highest level, both on the day and since the start in Yanbu. The American secured his 12th stage win on the Dakar and confirmed his status as Daniel Sanders' biggest rival. The Monster Energy Honda HRC rider is aware of how far he still has to go to win a third title, as he is still 45 seconds behind the Australian leader, but remains the only Rally GP rider to have made no mistakes so far
The day before, it was Tosha Schareina’s turn to be penalised for a mistake. The Spaniard was unable to fully redeem himself, even though his starting position (as 5th rider to begin) gave him an opportunity to make up for it. In the end, the worst was avoided as Sanders was caught out by the speed cameras, but his initial battle plan did not include spending the rest day at the foot of the podium, 11'56’’ behind his major rival, though he is less than a minute behind Luciano Benavides in third place.
The Rally 2 class witnessed the return of Mike Docherty, after breaking his front wheel on stage four. The Emirati resident, who is a sand specialist, showed off his skills by beating all his rivals in the class and also taking overall 4th place in the stage rankings. The South African, who was heavily penalised two days ago (62 hours 30 minutes), no longer has any hope of triumph in the Rally 2 overall rankings, but is still determined to put on a show.
Some things occur with almost unfailing regularity. Nasser Al Attiyah’s stage victories are among them, like Japanese cherry trees in bloom in spring or the people of northern France heading to the French Riviera’s beaches when summer arrives. As regards the Qatari driver, his successes are even more predictable when a special takes place among the dunes, the terrain on which he has conquered his five titles on the Dakar. From the start in Hail this morning, the conditions were therefore right for Nasser to go on the attack, especially as he was the 15th driver to begin. At the finishing line, having shown the extent of his skill without overdoing it, he picked up his 49th stage on the Dakar to continue a series of 19 consecutive editions with a minimum of one special success to add to his roll of honour, including when he dropped out of the rally early. His performance today puts him at the top of the overall rankings on the rest day, after overtaking and then pulling away from Henk Lategan to leave the South African 6'10’’ behind.
As they reached the Saudi capital, this good news was accompanied by more for the Dacia team, which achieved its first one-two finish on the Dakar thanks to the second place obtained by Sébastien Loeb. His mission to climb back up the overall rankings is underway, albeit at a moderate pace, but the man from Alsace has still moved from 8th to 6th place, 17’36’’ behind Al Attiyah.
Behind Al Attiyah and Lategan, the top trio in the overall rankings is completed by Nani Roma, who has not enjoyed such success since 2019, at the end of the Dakar’s South American era. The Catalan driver, trailing the race leader by 9’13’’, finds himself as the leading representative of the Ford clan, who will be capable of exerting maximum pressure for the rest of the rally. Carlos Sainz in his Raptor is still in the reckoning for outright triumph, in 4th place 11’49’’ behind Al Attiyah, as is Mattias Ekstrom, occupying 5th, 12’11’’ behind the Qatari.
