DAKAR 2024

STAGE 3: THREE DAYS, THREE LEADERS! YAZEED AL RAJHI IN FRONT…

Nasser al Attiyah's(image above) 'mind' games' are not working out very well for him, as after saying that the Audis would have all gone home after three days, not only are they still in the race, but the three of them are in the top 10, in second place I said yesterday that I would win today, and that didn't happen. Maybe he'll end up being right later on, but for now the 'mind games' have only served to encourage the Audi men more.

After the victory of Toyota Overdrive and Audi, today it was again the turn of Toyota Gazoo Racing to triumph in a stage this time with Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon (Toyota Gazoo Racing), who beat Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (Audi Sport) by just nine seconds, with Yazeed Al Rajhi/Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Overdrive Racing) in third at 1m09s, with the Saudi driver becoming the new leader of the Dakar general classification. Three days, three leaders!

The previous leaders of the race, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi Sport) today lost 3m29s and with that fell to second place overall, now 29s behind al Rajhi.

Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (BRX Prodrive Nasser Racing) were fourth, 1m33s ahead, and are now fifth overall, 10m49s ahead.

After the bad luck in yesterday's stage, when they fell from 5th to 15th overall, today was a better day for Romain Dumas/Max Delfino (Toyota Hilux Rebellion Racing) who were fifth in the stage, and have now climbed to the top 10 overall.

After the triumph in yesterday's stage, when they opened the road today, Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger (Audi Sport) had more difficulties and were only eighth.

Mathieu Serradori/Loic Minaudier (Century Racing Factory Team) were seventh ahead of Peterhansel.

With Pau Navarro/Gonçalo Reis (Mini X-Raid) out, after yesterday's rollover, when the young Spanish driver injured his wrist, Vaidotas Zala/Paulo Fiuza (Mini Prokop/Viktor Chytka (Ford Orlen Jipocar Team).

Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz (Toyota Gazoo Racing) had another bad day and were only 13th, losing another 22m42s, Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (BRX Prodrive) were delayed again, losing third place overall, falling to ninth place after to give up another 23m41s.

Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota Overdrive Racing) lost almost half an hour, falling to 12th place overall.

Nani Roma/Alex Haro Bravo (M-Sport Ford World Rally Team) have been in 17th, 16th place in M-Sport's debut at the Dakar, and today they were even worse, losing 33m29s, falling to 18th position.

by: José Luis Abreu, straight from Portugal