(Reuters) – Nine-times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb gained Monday’s second stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia to trim Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah’s general lead to only over 9 minutes.
The 47-year-old Frenchman completed three minutes and 28 seconds forward of the Toyota driver, who gained Saturday’s prologue and Sunday’s first stage however needed to go first and clear the best way on Monday’s 338km timed stage from Ha’il to Al Qaisumah.
The in a single day bivouac was moved from Al Artawiya as a result of heavy rain, with a deliberate marathon stage cancelled.
Britain’s Sam Sunderland took over the lead within the motorbike class from Australian GasGas crew mate Daniel Sanders, who misplaced his means and completed twenty third within the stage to drop to 3rd general.
“We missed a means level as a result of we went one valley too far to the left. We spent a good bit of time there looking for it. I misplaced about 20 minutes, so it was fairly loopy,” stated the Australian.
Spaniard Joan Barreda was the stage winner on a Honda.
Former MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci requested an airlift after his debut Dakar ended with his KTM struggling mechanical issues he couldn’t repair.
Loeb’s stage win was his fifteenth within the annual endurance occasion and first since 2019 in addition to a primary for Prodrive, the British motorsport firm that runs the Bahrain Raid Xtreme crew.
Argentina’s Lucio Alvarez was a distant third general, 40 minutes off the lead, in a Toyota.
The electrical Audis of triple champion Carlos Sainz and 14-times Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel completed the stage third and fourth respectively after a nightmare Sunday wrecked their general possibilities.
Defending champion Peterhansel, nicknamed ‘Mr Dakar’ for his success within the occasion on two wheels and 4, resumed 23 hours behind triple champion Al Attiyah after his automobile was sidelined with a smashed rear axle.
The Frenchman collected a 16-hour penalty because of that incident, blamed on a rock caught between the chassis and a wheel, and stated his major focus now was to assist his crew mates and provides Audi extra knowledge in regards to the RS Q e-tron automobile.
The Dakar, now in its forty fourth version, is the primary main motorsport occasion of the 12 months and one of the vital harmful and gruelling.
The rally began in 1978 as a race from Paris to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, however moved from Africa to South America for security causes in 2009. It is now held completely in Saudi Arabia.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, modifying by Pritha Sarkar)
