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Stage 4 – And three for Al-Attiyah-Baumel, Peterhansel-Boulanger remains in the lead
On ne les arrête plus ! Nasser Al-Attiyah et Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) s’en donnent à coeur joie en cette première semaine du Dakar 2021 en Arabie saoudite et signent ce mercredi 6 janvier leur troisième victoire d’étape consécutive entre Wadi Ad-Dawasir et Riyad.
The Qatari and his French navigator led a high-flying duel with their new teammates, rookies Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (Toyota). The South African duo was even ahead of the benchmarks at km 172 and 218, before losing a handful of seconds. They finally finished third, behind Stéphane Peterhansel and Édouard Boulanger (Mini).
The French rode in the heart of the top 5 throughout the stage, renowned for being rolling and " of transition " according to David Castera, the Director of the event. The Mini JCW Buggy only loses 11 seconds and thus preserves its advantage in the general classification, for 4'58'', before two much more difficult stages.
Loeb in progress, Al-Rajhi arrested
Increasingly convincing aboard their new 4×4 Bahrain Raid Xtreme Hunter, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena had fun on fast tracks. The former rallymen concluded the day in 4th place and have never been so close to the lead (+2'36'').
Left with a knife between his teeth after a gardening session that cost him half an hour, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (Mini) seemed on the verge of winning. However, the Spaniards slowed down in the final kilometers and are only fifth, at 2'56''.
Fourth in the last edition, the native Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) had high hopes for the second year in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, problems kept coming for him and his German navigator Dirk Von Zitzewitz. Already relegated at 1:27 a.m. Tuesday, he would have to spend several hours again following a breakdown.
In the general classification, the biggest sensation concerns Mathieu Serradori and Fabian Lurquin (Century). The independent crew, winner of a stage in 2020, woke up in an extremely flattering third place. But a good twenty minutes conceded due to a navigation error and they fell back to seventh place.
Stage classification:
General classification :
Medhi Casaurang
Passionate about the history of motorsport across all disciplines, I learned to read thanks to AUTOhebdo. At least that's what my parents tell everyone when they see my name inside!
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