BISHA, Saudi Arabia — Monday saw the end of the 48-hour Chrono Stage with some of the top contenders thriving over the strength-sapping two days, while others fell by the wayside during the Dakar Rally.
The 1,000km challenge over mixed terrain pushed the field to the limit, but one wise head in five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah put his pedal to the metal to move confidently up the standings.
The Qatari put his Dacia Sandrider into third overall – 11 minutes and 14 seconds behind Ultimate class leader Henk Lategan – with his teammate Sébastien Loeb battling back from an overheating issue to end strongly and finish less than 20 minutes behind the South African.
“We had a puncture for the last 50km and also an issue with the power-steering,” Al-Attiyah said. “It was tough to get through this stage with all the dust.”
With Spaniards Cristina Gutiérrez, Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma suffering setbacks, Ultimate rookies Toby Price and Sam Sunderland moved up to fourth after a near faultless performance.
“At one point we got past Nasser and we were opening the way, but then he just blew back by us,” Price said. “Sammy did a great job. I gave his head a good rattle.”
Back on two wheels, Australian Daniel Sanders increased his bike advantage to 12 minutes 36 seconds over American Skyler Howes with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Luciano Benavides sixth after hanging tough throughout.
“When you’re opening, there’s no line so you don’t know if it’s going to be a soft or hard dune,” Sanders said. “Everyone bunched up because of the dust, so we were fighting to get the opening bonus. I don’t feel tired at all. I’m ready for what’s still to come.”
In the Challenger class, Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Corbin Leaverton finished third to lie third overall however Portuguese teammate Gonçalo Guerreiro is just six minutes and 20 seconds off Argentine leader Nicolas Cavigliasso.
“We had a tense moment in the dunes yesterday, but we were able to fix the car,” Guerreiro said. “We’re still in the game.”
Sadly for Chilean Francisco “Chaleco” López, his SSV tilt suffered a blow as he lost three hours on the leader with Tuesday’s Stage 3 action seeing the convoy depart Bisha for the final time and head north to Al Henakiyah with the timed special stage measuring a modified distance of 327km.
