Al-Attiyah exorcised
“Another typical day of a Dakar”. So on social media Carlos Sainz defined the third stage of the 46th edition, the 'first half' of a Marathon which is completed today. The Audi driver lost his lead in the world championship standings, but limited the damage on a rather complicated day.
The three-time winner of the raid is second, 29 seconds behind the new leader Al-Rajhi and today he will be able to try to regain the scepter of command. In the Audi trident yesterday it was Stephane Peterhansel who ran into trouble, but in general the hybrid buggies from the Quattro Cerchi house passed the 'curse' launched by Nasser Al-Attiyah before the start when the Qatari had conceded to the Audis “three days before going home”.
After three stages the Audis are second with Sainz, third with Ekstrom and sixth with Peterhansel in the general classification in what is the last year of the three-year project in which the German company has invested so much. Then the brand will focus on F1. “I lost about five minutes in the first part of the stage due to navigation problems – explained Sainz – then as I followed Ekstrom the dust raised didn't make me see a hole. The damage could have been much worse, but we got away with a puncture.”. Considering the over twenty minutes lost yesterday by Loeb, yesterday's outcome for Sainz is extremely positive.
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