Screaming through the canyons and mountains around Neom today, the Dakar Rally’s Day Three action was once more played out on sandy sections and rocky roads. With the race very much open at this point, no clear leader has emerged as such other than the speeds of Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Toyota) on Day Two. However, it isn’t the fastest driver that finishes first at the Dakar Rally…
The wily ‘El Matador’ Carlos Sainz (Bahrain JCW X-Raid) set the pace through the early sections of today’s running, with Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and Stephane Peterhansel (Abu Dhabi Racing) less than 20 seconds adrift. A fierce ding-dong battle ensued between Saniz and Al Attiyah, exchanging the lead numerous times until the halfway point. Overnight leader Orlando Terranova (X-Raid MINI JCW Team) was cautious yet consistent in his pace, running four minutes behind the stage leaders.
After damaging his Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux and waiting for 2hr 30min for assistance to ruin his debut Dakar, Fernando Alonso shows his driving skills to great effect by reeling in the stage leaders to match their speed. Up to the halfway point of the stage, he was only two minutes down on his team-mate Al Attiyah.
The remainder of the stage was a high-speed sprint to the finish line, with Sainz posting the fastest stage time with a 3min 31sec advantage over Al Attiyah. Orlen X-Raid Team’s Jakub Przygonski claimed the third spot in the stage, ahead of Yasir Seidan (Race World Team), and a hard-charging Alonso.
On the overall leader board, Sainz’s pace moved him into the lead of the Dakar Rally with a 4min 55sec lead over Al Attiyah. Terranova slips to third overall after finishing eighth in today’s stage, and local speedster Al Rajhi is fourth in the standings ahead of Peterhansel who is now 19 minutes down on the leader.
In the Bikes category, there was all to play for Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) and Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda Team 2020) as they sought to reel in the minutes they lost on Day 2 due to navigational woes. Brabec was on another level on a stage that caught out many with its rock-strewn tracks and loose sand: he set the early pace with Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda Team 2020) and Price chasing, but Brabec’s speed took him far ahead of his rivals. By the midpoint of the stage, Brabec had stretched his lead to nearly five minutes over his chasers Kevin Benavides and Price, with a ten minute lead over category leader Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM Factory Team).
Strong performances were expected from Pablo Quintanilla (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) and Price, but with 100km to the stage’s finish, Brabec had left them trailing by 21 and 22 minutes respectively.
Brabec found another level in the second half of the stage, powering to win the stage with by almost ten minutes from team-mate Ignacio Cornejo. Joan Barreda Bort (Monster Energy Honda Team 2020) claimed third place, to hand Honda a clean sweep of the podium. Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) raced to fourth place ahead of brother Kevin.
Price made another navigational error, costing him precious time, eventually finishing the stage in 12th place. Quintanilla finished the stage seventh fastest, while overnight leader Sunderland reached the end in 16th overall.
USA’s Brabec now takes the overnight lead by 15min 02sec from Cornejo, with Barreda Bort third, Kevin Benavides in fourth and Red Bull KTM Factory Team’s Matthias Walkner in fifth place. Quintanilla is seventh overall, Sunderland now eighth and Price ninth over 38 minutes behind Brabec.
In the Trucks category, today was all about Andrey Karginov in his Kamaz-Master, with the Russian showing his rivals the way to the finish line. Behind the Russian, Siarhei Viazovich (MAZ-SportAuto) did he best to stay in touch while trying to keep Anton Shibalov (Kamaz-Master) behind too. This trio remained on attack throughout today’s proceedings, to finish the Day Three in that order too.
Unfortunately for their rivals and team-mates, the sand and rocks made the going tough. Kamaz-Master team-mates Eduard Nikolaev and Dmitry Sotnikov both stopped in the early parts of the stage, with Nikolaev able to continue albeit after losing considerable time. At the time of publication, Sotnikov had still not been able to move his stricken Kamaz.
Viazovich continues to hold onto his overall lead, but his lead is now only two minutes over Karginov. Shibalov is now third overall and 20 minutes adrift.
Leaving Neom, the race heads to Al-`Ula, some 676km away. It’s another challenging day when it comes to the overall classification, with a huge 453km marked as special.
