There may have been a relatively short stint to the Shubaytah finish of the 48 Hr Chrono stage, but the desert had the last laugh for some leading competitors.
Joan Barreda ground to a halt after 529 km due to a mechanical problem and said he is unable to resume the special, which is a major blow for the Spaniard who was a little more than three quarters of an hour behind his Hero team-mate Ross Branch before the 48 HR stage.
One km further on, defending champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel ground to a halt in their Prodrive Hunter.
Unperturbed, Sebastian Loeb duly reeled off the remaining mileage to Shubaytah, some two minutes ahead of Carlos Sainz, in turn nine-odd minutes ahead of his Audi Sport teammate Matias Ekström.
Sainz enjoys a 20 minute lead at the halfway point of the rally over his teammate who in turn is a more nerve-wracking nine minutes ahead of Loeb.
Lucas Moraes was the leading TGR crew across stage six, ending fourth ahead of Guerlain Chicherit in fifth who tied to the second after 547km of racing with Seth Quintero in another TGR Hilux.
Guillaume de Meuvis ended seventh with two minutes in hand over the consistent Martin Prokop in his Ford Raptor. Giniel de Villiers brought his TGR Hilux home in ninth ahead of Cristian Baumgart, making his debut in the top 10 results driving a Prodrive Hunter
Dakar rookie Guy Botterill was 11th ahead of Nani Roma who claimed M-Sport Ford/NWMs best stage result so far.
UPDATE: Once penalties had been applied Prokop was classified sixth ahead of De Villiers, De Meuvis, Quintero and Botterill filled out the top ten.
Stage 6 result:
Loeb, Sainz (+2:01), Ekström (+10:55)
Overall standings:
Sainz, Ekström (+20:21). Loeb (+29:31)
In the two-wheeled category, Adrien Van Beveren set the winning time on the 48 HR stage, his first stage win of the year. In the general rankings, the Frenchman lies in fourth position, 9:21 behind Ricky Brabec, the new leader ahead of Ross Branch and Nacho Cornejo.
Joan Barreda encountered a mechanical problem after 529 km and has been forced to throw in the towel.
Having trailed by more than two minutes after 246 km, Eryk Goczał posted the best time at the following intermediate point (after 295 km) and did not look back until the finishing line to record his fifth win of the year. He finished more than a quarter of an hour in front of his uncle Michał. Cristina Gutiérrez finished third, almost 19 minutes behind. In the general rankings, Eryk is soaring away with a lead of more than one hour over Mitch Guthrie.
