RALLY DAKAR 2024
Al-Attiyah 'threatens' Audi: "The surprise will come tomorrow"
The usual Nasser Al-Attiyah has begun to appear today, with a relatively clean stage (because he had an unexpected setback with his co-driver's discomfort throughout the day that forced him to stop on several occasions) in which he has been close to victory.
Barely 12 seconds separated him from Al-Rajhi and only Sébastien Loeb, who started very late - therefore, with an advantage - took that first victory away from him. Furthermore, in the last kilometers a navigation error cost them some very valuable seconds (in fact, in the last checkpoint he was more than a minute ahead of the Saudi).
"The stage went very well. In the last 50 kilometers we made some small mistakes with navigation, but we finished third, and I am happy to return to the top three in the general classification," he explained to the Spanish press at the finish line.
'Threat' to Audi...The Qatari, very fond of games of statements and psychology, this time addressed Audi to 'threaten' them: "You are not surprising me. The surprise will come tomorrow, because we are going to the Empty Quarter, in where I have experience and I have learned a lot from previous Dakars," he warns, anticipating what could be three days of total attack by the five-time Dakar winner.
It will be the first major contact of the Dakar with the dunes and a key day strategically for everyone... except perhaps for him, who sometimes surprises by assuming the leading role in stages in which no one wants him, such as the 48 hours: "Tomorrow It will be an important day, we need to have a good position for the 48 hour stage." And that position, as he confirmed when asked by MARCA, does not have to be delayed, as everyone is betting: "I don't think I will be at the back, we will see what I am capable of tomorrow, and if I have to open the track, I will open." , he announces.
In fact, the Hunter's weak point is hard terrain, where it suffers from the suspensions and tires... but that won't happen in the sand: "We know that it is good for this terrain and in the next three days we will make a plan to take advantage of it."
An Al-Attiyah who vindicates himself by comparing himself with Loeb... and by discounting the time lost by the mechanics: "It's a new car for me, but if you compare me with Seb [Loeb], I'm ahead. We've had six punctures and we are breaking the rear [suspension] arms, but if you subtract that half hour, we would be leading for twenty minutes," he says.
Enrique Naranjo
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