The 46th Dakar Rally, which is continuing to explore the heart of Saudi Arabia, is taking great strides towards the desert of the Empty Quarter with a leap of more than 600 kilometers on Monday.
Pablo Quintanilla and Nacho Cornejo, both teammates with Monster Energy Honda, seemed set to make the day a Chilean festival. However, the victory that seemed promised to Quintanilla slipped from his grasp following the race stewards’ announcement of a series of speeding penalties.
Due to going much too fast through a zone restricted to 30 kmph, Quintalnilla received a six-minute penalty.
Nasser Al Attiyah suffered a series of punctures that slowed him down, forcing Al Attiyah to complete the last thirty kilometers on a wheel rim from which the rear left tire had been ripped off.
The outcome was even more severe for Sébastien Loeb, who lost 23 minutes in the sharp stones.
With trouble ensuing for his counterparts, Lucas Moraes proved to be the most delicate with his tires and won his first stage on the Dakar.
He has put himself in a position ready to pounce, at the foot of the podium dominated for the first time by Yazeed Al Rajhi, followed 29 seconds behind by Carlos Sainz and then Mattias Ekström, 8 minutes and 26 seconds behind.
Other Notes
• Kevin Benavides let his experience do the talking to triumph in the motorbike category. Despite the stage victory, he still sits sixth in the general rankings, 20 minutes, 32 seconds behind leader Ross Branch.
• In the SSV category, Yasir Seaidan completed the day for Saudi Arabia by beating João Ferreira, but without disrupting the calm progress of Gerard Farrés at the top of the rankings.
• On the other hand, the battle is taking shape in the truck race with Aleš Loprais dethroning Janus van Kasteren from the leader’s position thanks to his first victory of the year.