Dakar: Al-Attiyah has won the stage, Audi is in serious trouble

Nasser Al-Attiyah, a Toyota factory team driver, won the next leg of the rally raid and cemented his leadership in the individual Dakar standings. Second, three and a half minutes behind, was Sebastien Loeb, driving the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team’s Prodrive Hunter off-road vehicle. Henk Lattigan, another Toyota representative, who showed the third result, lost 9 minutes to his partner.

The results were partly influenced by the fact that Audi drivers Carlos Sainz and Stefan Petransel fell out of contention for victory on the 6th stage of the marathon – they had accidents on the same part of the distance, more precisely on its 212 kilometers.

The circumstances of the incident are not entirely clear, but the bottom line is that two teams of the factory Audi team were driving side by side, but after Petransel, who was leading the stage at the time, overtook his partner, his car fell into a hole in the job. And Sainz could not avoid contact with the Frenchman’s electric car.

One thing is certain: the Audi team will again, just like last year, have to say goodbye to the hope of winning the rally raid. Petransel’s car had the front wheel torn off, the suspension broken, the steering wheel damaged and the battery was also defective. But the biggest problem is that Petransel’s navigator, Edoard Bolanger, suffered a back injury and was taken to hospital for further examination.

Carlos Sainz’s car suffered less damage and is able to continue driving, but too much time was still lost – more than two hours. Fortunately, his co-driver Lucas Cruz is in good shape, and that’s probably the only good news.

Among the motorcyclists, the Argentinian Luciano Benavidez, rider of the factory Husqvarna team, finished the stage fastest of all, in the ATV class his compatriot Manuel Andujar, riding a Yamaha Raptor 700, was the best today.

In the T3 class (light SUVs), the Belgian-French crew of Guillaume de Mevius and Francois Casale won – they also lead the general classification in their category. In the T4 class, Poland’s Marek Gochal and Maciej Marton won – this is their third such success in the Dakar stages this year.

Among the riders in the T5 cargo category, the first to overcome the distance of the 6th stage was the crew of Dutchman Mitchel Van Den Brink, competing in a bonneted Iveco Powerstar. But the leader has changed in this class, now the experienced Dutch trio of Martin Vandenbrink has come to the front, performing on the same truck, although his lead over the Czech Ales Loprais is very small, less than a minute.

Tomorrow the participants of the rally-raid await the next, seventh stage, the total distance of which is 528 km, of which the high-speed test is 333 km. The Riyadh-Al-Duwadimi stage is considered quite tough, the riders will have to overcome several obstacles, both rocky terrain and dunes.