Dakar – Orlando Terranova wins the 3rd stage

Orlando Terranova (Mini) was the fastest in the third 284km special stage between San Juan and Chilecito (Argentina). This route proved less demanding than that of the day before and made it possible to spare the crews who faced the longest special stage of the event in the second stage.

With a time of 2h57'28, Orlando Terranova beat Giniel de Villiers by two minutes (Toyota), son plus proche poursuivant, tandis que Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) s’est distingué en suivant à moins de trois minutes. Les Peugeot 2008 DKR regains color since Carlos Sainz ranked four minutes just ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah (Mini). His teammate Stéphane Peterhansel finished around ten minutes late.

Nasser Al-Attiyah retains control of the Dakar but only has a five-minute lead over Giniel de Villiers. If the first two have separated slightly from the peloton, the following crews remain very grouped together. Orlando Terranova jumped onto the provisional podium 18 minutes behind ahead of Carlos Sainz and Yazeed Al-Rajhi.

It is a bad day for Bernhard Ten Brike (Toyota) which fell to provisional eighth place more than half an hour late after starting from third position this morning. The Dutchman finds himself behind the All4 Racing of Krzysztof Holowczyk and Eric van Loon. The second stage has already eliminated many crews since 34 cars were non-starters at the start of today's special.

The third stage of the Dakar was mourned by the death of biker Michal Hernik.

The video summary of the third stage of the Dakar can be consulted here.