Dakar – Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel neck and neck

The sixth stage of the Dakar revives interest at the front of the race since Nasser Al-Attiyah dominated this day. The Qatari completed the 454km course linking Arica to Calama in 3.32 and is no less than 08 behind his rival Stéphane Peterhansel, who is only 8 ahead. “We did a good job today, everything worked perfectly, car, tires and crew”, comments the winner of the stage, reported by the official website of the event. “We lost a little power with the altitude, but we found good specific settings to counter this problem and it worked quite well. Now we will try to continue like this, making time every day in Peterhansel. Now the gap overall is much reduced and even if a priori the next stage will not be in our favor, we should stay in contact. »

His teammate Carlos Sainz was, however, less fortunate since the Spaniard stopped on the course due to a serious problem with the engine of his Buggy. The double champion of WRC was unable to repair and the crew had to abandon after starting from 22nd place this morning.

Robby Gordon completes the trio of the day by clocking in at almost 14 minutes on his Hummer. However, with the American out of the game for victory, all eyes turn to the Toyota Hilux by Giniel de Villiers. The Frenchman finished the stage at 17 minutes and remained on the provisional podium, still 42 minutes behind the Team X-Raid driver. But the latter is chased by the Mini of Leonid Novitskiy which comes back two minutes behind the Toyota. Guerlain Chicherit now completes the top five with its Buggy SMG ahead of that of Ronan Chabot. Nani Roma lost time by getting stuck in a dune and fell to seventh place, three minutes behind the nearest Frenchman.

Tomorrow?s stage will include a 754km route, including 220km of special, linking Calama to Salta. The crews will gain height by arriving in the Cordillera and driving at an altitude of more than 3500m. The first part will be quick before evolving into more winding portions.