Dakar: Nasser Al-Attiyah leads the individual competition

Toyota factory driver Nasser Al-Attiyah led the individual standings at the end of the third stage of the Dakar Rally. Former leader Carlos Sainz Sr lost time due to technical problems. Due to bad weather conditions, the duration of the Alula-Hail stage was shortened.

Before the start of the stage, Sainz was 2 minutes and 12 seconds ahead of Al-Attiyah in the individual classification, but Carlos’ hopes of cementing the lead evaporated at kilometer 213 of the distance, when his Audi Rs Q e-tron E2 had problems with the left rear wheel.

It took Sainz Sr. almost half an hour to solve the problem, but his problems didn’t end there – the Spaniard lost another 20 minutes due to navigation problems. All the problems at the end of the third stage dropped Carlos from first to eighth place in the individual standings, 33 minutes and 11 seconds behind the leader.

Nasser Al-Attiyah was not without problems – he lost time in the opening kilometers of the special stage and finished outside the top ten. However, this result was enough to take the lead in the overall standings with a lead of 13 minutes and 20 seconds over closest pursuer Yazid Al-Raji, who drives a private Toyota Hilux.

Third place in the individual standings is now taken by Audi driver Stephane Petransel, 20 minutes behind the leader. Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb performed unsuccessfully in the third stage and now loses an hour and a half in the individual classification to Nasser Al-Attiyah.

In a situation where the leaders ran into trouble, the stage was won by Frenchman Guerlain Chichery of the Prodrive team, who covered the distance in 3 hours 22 minutes and 57 seconds. Henk Lategan finished second in a Toyota (+3 minutes and 26 seconds) and Orlando Terranova, another Prodrive representative, completed the top three (+5 minutes and 4 seconds).

The fourth stage of the Dakar with a length of 425 kilometers will take place near Hail on Wednesday.