Dacia Sanriders driver al-Attiyah and his French navigator Edouard Boulanger finished the gruelling 793km stage in three hours 20 minutes and 26 secs. He was three minutes and 34 seconds behind the day’s winner in fifth place. Al-Attiyah avoided any mistakes on the day and said ‘everything is fine and I’m happy’
The Qatar aced said: “I will try to do my best to win this race. I have a good feeling and Edouard did a good job with the navigation. Everything is going well as we need it to and we’re trying to do our best. For the moment, everything is fine and I’m happy. It’s not easy, but it’s not about to open up. When we caught all the Toyotas, nobody wanted to open for us. We received a lot of sentinel system warnings, it was a real shame. I’m going to check if there’s a problem. Now I will try to do my best and finish every day, but we are in a good way.”
Rally legend Sebastien Loeb struggled to complete the stage after rolling his car near the start, a setback that is likely to cost him his dream of a first title in the event.
The nine-time World Rally Champion went off the road 12 kilometres into the 327-stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah. After a nasty bounce his Dacia performed several impressive rolls, which seriously damaged the vehicle.
The 50-year-old Frenchman and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin set off again after a five-minute stop for repairs, but struggled throughout the rest of the stage.
Loeb, who has finished second three times in the Dakar Rally, ended the stage in 4 hours 20 minutes 12 seconds, more than an hour behind the day’s winner, Variawa.
“We were able to continue but suddenly the steering rod broke, I think because of the rollover,” said Loeb at the finish.
“Then we had a problem with the engine overheating. We tried to finish the stage. We managed to do so, but we lost an hour.
“It wasn’t the kind of day we prefer. We lost an hour and we got the feeling that we were in ‘it’ up to our necks. But it is what it is, we just have to continue. We’ll keep on racing and we’ll see, even if winning the rally is starting to look complicated.” Variawa, in a Toyota, finished 33 seconds ahead of Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit in a Mini.
Another South African Toyota driver, Henk Lategan retained the overall lead after finishing 12th on the day, 7mins 31sec behind Variawa.
Variawa is 41st, 7 hours 47 minutes 11 seconds behind after losing eight hours the day before following a head-on collision with team-mate and compatriot Giniel de Villiers. “Towards the end, in the last five kilometres, we hit a big rock and got a puncture, but nonetheless it was a really good drive on our side,” said Variawa.
Loeb sits 16th, almost an hour and a quarter off first. He also lost 30 minutes on Sunday when a fan problem caused his engine to overheat. Reigning champion Carlos Sainz had retired on Monday after his Ford Raptor flipped, damaging its roll bar. Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed al-Rajhi dropped from second to fourth overall. Double motorcycle champions Toby Price of Australia and Sam Sunderland of Britain slid from fourth to sixth in their first Dakar on four wheels. With rain forecast, the stage was shortened from the original 496 km.
In the motorbike competition, Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino, riding a Sherco and making his seventh appearance in the Dakar Rally, won a stage for the first time. Australian Daniel Sanders still leads the overall standings, a minute and 57 seconds clear of American Skyler Howes.
The Rally through Saudi Arabia ends on January 17 in the Empty Quarter desert.
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