Daniel Sanders, Austin Jones and Nasser Al-Attiyah had days to remember during stage three of the Dakar Rally.
Rain disrupted the end of the stage, as the last 100km of the race track washed away. However, defending car champion Al-Attiyah built on Monday’s stage two victory and claimed the overall lead. Carlos Sainz was halted for almost half an hour in his Audi RS Q e-tron E2.
Australian Sanders excelled again as the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing bike rider won to cut Mason Klein’s overall lead to 1:48 seconds. The 28-year-old added, “The idea was to win the stage by catching the guys in front and it’s worked out really well.”
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing are also in the overall bike top five, thanks to Argentine Kevin Benavides, while teammates and former Dakar winners Toby Price and Matthias Walkner are in the top 10.
Good news continued for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich as Jones won the stage, while compatriot Seth Quintero took the overall T3 lead with Lithuanian Rokas Baciuška’s third place in T4 boosting him up to fourth overall.
Wednesday’s stage four will turn up the heat with 425km against the clock, the loop stage around the Ha’il bivouac, a chain of dunes measuring over 100km and several navigational pitfalls.