Defending champion Carlos Saiz finally registered his first Stage win in Dakar 2021 putting behind all the frustration and trailing of the last few days. The veteran Spaniard was quickest to each waypoint and finished with a time of 3:38:27 but still trail by a handsome 40:39seconds behind Stephan Peterhansel in the overall leaderboard.
Local hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi found his pace in the Overdrive Toyota crossing the line just 04:03 seconds behind Sainz. Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah is determined to put pressure on both Peterhansel and Sainz in his campaign has he managed a respectable third, 7:16 seconds behind the Stage winner.
Jakub Przygonski, another Dakar Legend from Poland secured fifth place thus maintaining his overall fourth in the leaderboard. Meanwhile, WRC Champion Sebastien Loeb struggled with broken suspension 97 kilometres and is now stuck awaiting a replacement from his BRX team. The British team hopes to begin repairs on his car to ensure he can make it to the finish ahead of the rest day on Saturday. On the other hand, Loeb’s teammate Nani Roma had a fantastic run in the identical car finishing seventh and jumping up to the fifth position in the overall standing before going into the rest day.
Yesterday’s Stage winner Giniel De Villiers crossed his Toyota across the finish line in ninth, ahead of Martin Prokop driving the sole Ford this year. Fellow South African Brian Baragwanath is having a great run so far in his Century buggy managing to finish in top 10 on almost all stages. He is sixth overall. Vladimir Vasilyev of X-Raid and Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi rounded off the table in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Halfway through the season, Stephan Peterhansel has a comfortable 5:53seconds lead over Nasser Al-Attiyah. Sainz’s stage win has done him no good in the overall standing as the defending champion is still trailing by 40:39seconds behind Peterhansel. But the race is far from over.
