RALLY DAKAR 2023
Nasser Al-Attiyah had a very tight second stage of Monday's Dakar Rally. The defending champion won with just 14 seconds over the Dutch Erik van Loon, who was about to surprise on a day when Carlos Sainz had to know how to suffer to finish the race in third, with 5:05 minutes of disadvantage in relation to the leader .
The defending champion made it clear that it was the best time to attack and he did. After 430 kilometers of special between Sea Camp and Al Ula, with cobbled ground and between canyons, he prevailed over van Loon (Toyota) with more difficulties than expected, but certifying his candidacy for the re-edition of the championship.
Carlos Sainz(image below), third on the stage and Al-Attiyah's main rival, only managed to minimize the damage in the face of the Qatari's unstoppable pace, although it wasn't little. He gave up just 5min05s, despite having opened the track from the start to the finish, and still had the help of his son, the Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr., who was waiting for him on a rock to order him to slow down before reaching a dangerous area.
Sainz saved for Audi, with the 14-time champion Stéphane Peterhansel 32 minutes behind the winner and the Swede Mattias Ekstrom, 37. Difficult stages I have already run, it was a day to survive ”, explained the four-time Dakar champion on social media. "We have a flat tire, but we are happy because we were opening the track and it was very difficult with more than five hours of driving."
With his 43rd Dakar victory, Al-Attiyah is 2:12 behind the Madrid native overall, where Sainz leads. After just two stages and drivers like the South African Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) and Peterhansel, they are 26 and 36 minutes behind in the classification. But there is still a lot of attack left. Even for Loeb, nine times world rally champion.
Mundoquatrorodas
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