The siege on leaders Henk Lategan and Daniel Sanders tightens

The resumption of the Dakar rally, after the rest day in Ha’il, has led to an open attack on the car and motorcycle leaders, Henk Lategan (Toyota), and Daniel Sanders (KTM), respectively. In a very long sixth stage, from Ha’il to Al Duwadimi (605 km timed, with a 171 km transfer in between), both the South African and the Australian, both leaders since the first day of the prologue, saw their advantage reduced in the general, with the entire pack of pursuers already on their heels.

In motorcycles, Ricky Brabec (Honda), the only champion in the race, won the stage (after the abandonment of Kevin Benavides after the break), and in cars it was Guillaume De Mévius (Toyota).

Motorcycles

Spectacular hunt for the leader of Brabec, Schareina, Howes, Van Beveren and Santolino, but Sanders saves the neck

The 605 km of the special were a spectacle of pursuit of leader Sanders, who continues to hold on bravely. The day started with the early double retirement of the young Bradley Cox (KTM), when he fell as soon as he started, 100 meters from the start, and of Ross Branch (Hero), the rally-raid world champion, fourth overall , who suffered a fall at kilometer 48 and was transported by helicopter (despite not having serious injuries).

The young Rui Gonçalves (Sherco) began the dance of leaders of the day, Skyler Howes (Honda) took over at the CP at km 96, the Valencian Tosha Schareina (Honda) attacked from km 140, and at km 190 there was lead change, with Brabec taking the lead (in the video, piloting with one hand), neck and neck with Santolino (Sherco), who was leading in the CP at km 214, being the first to repeat the lead in two consecutive controls.

However, before the transfer (an asphalt road connection at km 233), it was the young Mason Klein (Kove) who had the pleasure of provisionally leading the stage, with Santolino second, one minute behind and Brabec third.

In the second part of the stage, 204 kilometers of dunes and fast sand tracks, Ricky Brabec ended up imposing his speed to achieve his first partial victory of this edition. He did it with only 23 seconds over the Frenchman Van Beveren and 51s over the Chilean Nacho Cornejo. Tosha Schareina was fourth at 2m27s, shaving just over three minutes off Sanders, who could only be ninth, 5m43s behind the American winner.

In the general classification, Sanders, although he maintained his lead, suffered a good shake of his main pursuers: Schareina, second, goes from 15 minutes to 11m46s, Van Beveren, from 24 to 19, and Brabec, third, is 23. Fourth is now Howes, at 27m.

The Catalan rookie Edgar Canet (KTM), who suffered his first fall at km 41 and damaged his lower back and a hand, managed to finish the day in 16th position and remains leader of the Rally2 subcategory, and 10th of the general Lorenzo Santolino is ninth.

Cars

De Mévius, Al Rajhi and Al Attiyah liven up the party, but Lategan saves the furniture; Nani Roma finishes in 10th place

Many in the Ha’il bivouac suspected that the lead was going to last no longer, especially Henk Lategan, in the second week of the rally, despite the fact that he had amassed 10 minutes over Al Rajhi, 21 over Ekström and 35 over Al Attiyah. The dunes – they ventured – were going to take their toll. And that’s how it has started to happen, because his rivals went all out for the South African, especially the Saudi from Toyota Overdrive and the Belgian from Mini X-Raid.

Already in the first stages of the day, Al Rajhi began the offensive and De Mévius replied, with minimal distances, 7s between them, at the CP at km 39. The tireless Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia) joined the festival of harassing the leader ), which in the next CP at km 190 came within 1m34s of the Saudi, with the Qatari opening the track in the final stretch before the transfer of 171 km.

After the road link, in the second part of the special, the three pursuers pressed the accelerator on the fast tracks and hugged the leader, especially Al Rajhi, who is only 7m16s behind Lategan, and Al Attiyah, who is 35 minutes goes to 30. The South African from Toyota was able to save the furniture with a 7th place, 6m36s behind the Belgian De Mévius and 4m35 behind Al Attiyah and 3m from Al Rajhi.

Remarkable was Nani Roma’s 10th place in the stage, just 10 minutes behind De Mévius. The Catalan achieved his best result (apart from 9th in the prologue), despite acting as a squire for Mattias Ekström, who was 8th (behind Lategan) and saw his disadvantage extended by a minute and a half (now more than 22m).

On the contrary, Brazilian Lucas Moraes with his Catalan co-driver Armand Monleon (Toyota) was already out of the fight for the podium. They had to fix their car and that of their driver, Lucas Moraes, giving up three hours (81st of the day).

Isidre Esteve (Toyota Repsol) was also unlucky, losing one hour and 53 minutes.