WADI AD DAWASIR, Saudi Arabia — A 20-year-old young man has won in the premium category of the Dakar and it is not even a surprise! Rally-raid aficionados have become used to the exploits of Saood Variawa, especially since last year when he became the youngest winner in the history of the Dakar in the car category.
Monday, he pulled off a spectacular ascent of the leader board having been the 26th driver to start the special, making progress as the day went on at each of the different time checkpoints until he snatched victory by just 3 seconds, to take success from another Toyota Hilux, driven by his countryman Henk Lategan.
On what turned out to be a fast route, the time gaps turned out to be negligible, with seven vehicles within two minutes, meaning to win there was little margin for error.
Consequently, the drivers out to hunt had no time to lose. Of course, the Dakar first and foremost requires good management to go the distance.
Indeed, the mantra that “the main thing is to stay on the right track” is still perfectly relevant. However, the minute won today by Henk Lategan over Nasser Al Attiyah may well prove very useful to the South African when the final reckoning comes. He achieved the second-best time on the loop around Wadi ad Dawasir on the longest special of this year’s Dakar.
The advantage is not considerable and his Toyota Hilux will not be in the best position when starting the second marathon-refuge stage tomorrow in second place, without the tracks of the bikes.
However, he has nonetheless moved past Nani Roma in the overall rankings to take a place on the provisional podium, 6’08” behind the leader, which is something, at least.
Behind the two South Africans, the day’s podium was completed by Mattias Ekstrom (29” behind the winner), who has strengthened his second place in the overall rankings thanks to perfect consistency behind the wheel of his Ford Raptor. The Swedish driver now lies 4′ behind Nasser Al Attiyah but will probably not have the opportunity to continue catching up when he sets off tomorrow morning on the way to the bivouac-refuge.
At the end of stage 8, the gap between the top 5 drivers is even smaller than it was on the rest day! The third best placed Raptor, driven by Carlos Sainz, is timed at 10’39” down on the leader. Meanwhile, S√©bastien Loeb, in 6th place, is still within 17 minutes of his Qatari colleague on the Dacia team.
