The Valencian Tosha Schareina takes second position in motorcycles

Schareina, who until now was fifth, crossed the finish line with a disadvantage of only 15 seconds over the leader, the Australian Daniel Sanders, and took advantage of the failure of the three men who preceded him in the classification, the Botswana Ross Branch and the Americans Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes, who left each other for around twenty minutes with the winner. The Valencian driver dominated the special until almost the finish line, but slowed down at the end and gave up that partial success so as not to have to open the track in this Thursday’s special, which they will face without mechanical assistance.

Sanders, winner of four of the five special stages held so far (all except the one won by Santilino), now leads the classification with 13:26 over Schareina, who is competing in his fourth Dakar after debuting in 2021 with a thirteenth place and winning the prologue in last year’s edition, in his first experience with the official Honda.

Santolino, eighth today, remains in the Top 10 of the classification, 59:39 behind Sanders.

In cars, without the presence of Carlos Sainz, the victory belonged to the Saudi Yazeed Al Rajhi, who covered the 415 kilometers of special in 4h26:40. South African Henk Lategan was second at 4:51, which is enough for him to maintain the lead for one more day. Cristina Gutiérrez, 13th, was the best-ranked Spaniard. The woman from Burgos lost time having to assist Nasser Al Attiyah, who had broken an arm of the suspension of his Dacia. The Qatari left the finish line for more than half an hour and placed seventh overall. The only thing left to do is attack.