At an interesting turn of events, race leader Carlos Sainz has managed to not only win the Stage 10 but also increase his overall lead by 18 minutes. Meanwhile, the three-way battle we saw since the day one was missed on the tenth Stage following the navigational mishaps of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stéphane Peterhansel.
The Stage on the Empty Quarters was shortened owing to worsening weather conditions. After getting lost in the desert, the defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah crossed the finish line at P17, almost 17 minutes adrift Sainz. The other Dakar legend, Stephane Peterhansel too suffered navigation predicaments finding the waypoint but he fared better than the Qatari by finishing the 10th stage at P10.
Now, in the overall standing, both Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel are trailing Sainz by more than 18 minutes, and just 16 seconds separating the two from each other. X-Raid driver Jakub Przygonski finished second behind Sainz closely followed by Toyota Gazoo’s Giniel De Villiers. Privateer Pierre Lachaume came in fourth ahead of local hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi.
On the other hand, Fernando Alonso made news once again after tackling a large sand dune rather zealously. The Spaniard rolled his Toyota Hilux twice before landing on all four wheels and then continued the rest of the race after removing the shattered windshield. He lost more than an hour over Sainz and has now dropped down to the 14th position in general standing.
The competitors will now won’t be allowed to take any assistance from their technical crew as a part of the ‘marathon stage’. The last two stages will feature 750 kilometres of timed stage as well.
