Two unscheduled events in two days
In the 48 hour stopover There were two twists in the 2024 Dakar that had strong repercussions in the noble area of the general classification. Yesterday (11 January) we first witnessed the withdraw of the now former leader Yazeed Al Rajhi, forced to abandon the competition due to an accident without consequences for the crew. In this way, despite Carlos Sainz's best performance, the opportunities to aim for the leadership of the ranking were reopened for Nasser Al Attiyahstill in the game despite a rather complex start to the edition for him and for Prodrive.
Al Attiyah's hopes ruined
However, with the start of the second day valid for the sixth stage, the Qatari's goal of moving up the rankings was effectively shattered. This time, unlike his Saudi rival, what dashed Al Attiyah's hopes was a technical problem, later resolved. From failure to resuming the route, the #200 has though lost 2 hours and 45 minutes for repairs, so much so that it now finds itself in 17th position, almost three hours away from the leadership of Carlos Sainz.
The new strategy
As a result, Al Attiyah is effectively out of the fight for victory. In his post-test statements, the 53-year-old explained the problem that slowed down his Prodrive, as well as what his strategies will be for the next stages: “It wasn't a good day – declared the five-time winner of the Dakar – we broke a steering bearing 50 kilometers from the finish line and we had to wait for assistance to fix it. It's a shame, because we had a good special stage despite having started in the lead yesterday. In any case, we will continue and see what we can do. The idea is to help Loeb win the Dakar. I will do everything I can to make this happen“.
In pursuit of Sainz
Loeb, Al Attiyah's teammate, had made a mistake on stage 5, resulting in a 15-minute penalty for missing a waypoint. Despite everything, the Frenchman managed to win his second test of this season right in the last stage, going back in third position in the general classification half an hour late from Sainz, new leader after Al Rajhi's knockout.
#Attiyah #Loeb #win #Dakar #FormulaPassion
