The halfway situation
On the rest day of the 46th edition of the Dakar Rally there could not have been a more encouraging and serene break for theAudi, even more so after the sensational episodes that erased the hopes of victory for two prominent candidates such as Yazeed Al Rajhi and the reigning champion Nasser Al Attiyah. Analyzing the general rankingthe German house in fact occupies the first two positions waiting for the restart scheduled for January 14th for the seventh stage.
Sainz-Ekström: the leading pair
Commanding the group is a veteran like Carlos Sainztwo-time world rally champion and above all winner of three editions of the Dakar between 2010 and 2020. With his co-driver Lucas Cruz, he momentarily boasts 20 minutes ahead on the teammate Swedish Mattias Ekströmin turn ahead of Sebastien Loeb's Prodrive by just under 10 minutes also thanks to a time penalty imposed on the Frenchman during the fifth stage.
No illusions
In addition, Audi had the opportunity to rejoice for the stage success 'Monsieur Dakar', Stephane Peterhanselwho with his success in the second stage made history by equaling the absolute record of victories by Ari Vatanenequal to 50. At the same time, there was no shortage of missteps during the first half of this 2024 (one of which to the detriment of Peterhansel, now 22nd and more than 3 hours behind the leader), however not enough to deny the Four Circles a provisional double in the heart of Saudi Arabia: “As announced, the 46th edition of the Dakar Rally is absolutely relentless – declared the Head of Audi Motorsport Rolf Michl – I'm even more impressed with what we've seen so far from Team Audi Sport and Q Motorsport. Thanks to determination, hard work, team cohesion and intelligent tactics, Carlos with Lucas and Mattias with Emil (Bergkvist) are now leading with their Audi RS Q e-trons. We are proud of the results obtained so far. Of course we are ambitious, but we are full of respect and we have no illusions on the tasks that await us.”
The biggest difficulties
With 2304 km covered out of 4201 in total, Sainz commented on the work done so far, even more so after moving to the top of the standings at the end of the 48 Hour Stage which took place between 11 and 12 January: “It's been a tough rally so far, where we couldn't catch our breath even for a moment – admitted the 61-year-old father of the Ferrari driver – in the dust of various competitors we ended up in critical situations several times in the first few days, so it is even more pleasant to have taken the lead in the 48H Chrono stage. But that still doesn't mean anything, because we're only halfway there“. Satisfaction also expressed by Ekström, winner of the Prologue, a test that inaugurated his fourth participation in the Dakar: “I'm very happy, even though we got stuck in the sand once in the Empty-Quarter – added the two-time DTM champion – our car ran perfectly. Navigation was difficult. Emil had to find the right path and I had to find an appropriate pace. We can be very happy with our current location“.
#Sainz #It39s #nice #charge #we39re #halfway #FormulaPassion
