The toughest race in the world forces riders to face unimaginable challenges, such as finishing a stage on three wheels in the Saudi Arabian desert. This is what Nasser Al Attiyah did in the third special stage of the 2024 Dakar Rally, where he arrived at the two-hour assistance marathon in Al Salamiya with only three tires and extensive damage to his Hunter Prodrive.
The Qatari was very confident in a statement released to Motorsport.com during the previous day in which he assured that he would be the one to take the victory to get closer to the historic record now held by Stéphane Peterhansel and Ari Vatanen, but he was unable to certify it due to serious problems with his car.
After finishing the 438 kilometer special stage, he received help from his British outfit to repair the vehicle and said: “Today was a good day from the start, then we had two punctures in the tyres. We decided to don't push too hard in the last hundred kilometres, but in the last 30 we had the third puncture.”
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
#200 Nasser Racing Prodrive Hunter: Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel
“We chose to continue because we didn't have a spare tire,” continued the Qatari, reigning world champion and outgoing champion of the legendary event in Saudi Arabia. “The car suffered a lot of damage, but everything is fine, we are in assistance and now the mechanics will repair it, I have no problems.”
Nasser Al Attiyah was at times leading the stage, even at the last reference point he led the classification with 22 seconds ahead of Lucas Moraes, who shortly afterwards took advantage of his problem to take the victory of the special stage with the vehicle which he inherited. For his part, the Prodrive driver dropped to fourth place and lost almost two minutes.
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