Leaving the tents at the bivouac in Al Salamiya to head towards the city of Al Hofuf in Saudi Arabia, the 46th Dakar Rally riders and crews traveled a total distance of 299 km in the fourth stage.
Sébastien Loeb orchestrated his reappearance at the top of the stage rankings in the car category after suffering from various issues at the beginning of the event.
The Frenchman has gently gone about starting his comeback by winning the stage finishing in Al-Hofuf. The gaps achieved have not shaken up the race hierarchy, but to begin with he has climbed up three places and now occupies sixth position, 23 minutes, 50 seconds behind Yazeed Al Rajhi.
“After 50 or 60 km we took the lead, to open the way and it was not easy,” leader Al Rajhi said. “We had a slow puncture before 150 to 180 km. As we went on the tire pressure started to drop, and the back of the car dropped, until it reached 1.4 bar by the finish, but it’s OK.
“It’s lucky we slowed over the last 100 km, but everything is going well. I’m always ready for the desert, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Other Notes
• Nacho Cornejo took the lead in the bike category general rankings as he raced to the stage victory as well. Cornejo took advantage of two Ross Branch crashes.
Branch held a three-minute lead entering the fourth stage.
• It is a safe bet that the ocean of dunes will not remove the smile from the face of Eryk Goczał, who picked up a fourth special victory in the Challenger class.
• In the SSV category, Portugal’s João Ferreira was the quickest without dislodging Gerrard Farrés from the top of the general rankings.
• The lead has not changed in the truck race with Janus van Kasteren producing the best time for the fourth time in five days of racing. Nevertheless, he has a lead of only 5 minutes, 17’ seconds over Aleš Loprais in the general rankings.