Dakar 2022: Desert racing reaches its boiling point

Terranova
prevents
clean-sweep

In
the
cars
section,
Peterhansel
was
followed
home
on
the
stage
by
Audi
team-mate
Spain’s
rally
legend
Carlos
Sainz
who
finished
as
the
day’s
runner-up.

Meanwhile,
Bahrain
Raid
Xtreme
(BRX)
Team
driver
Orlando
Terranova
finished
third
to
prevent
an
Audi
clean-sweep
of
the
374kms
of
timed
racing
covered
between
Wadi
Ad
Dawasir
and
Bisha
as
the
Dakar
moves
towads
its
business
end.

Penalty
for
Al
Attiyah

Race
leader
Al
Attiyah
was
hit
by
a
5min
penalty
for
not
putting
his
seatbelt
back
on
quickly
enough
after
getting
out
to
fix
a
puncture
on
Stage
8.
The
Toyota
Gazoo
Racing
man
still
has
an
advantage
of
over
half
an
hour
at
the
front
of
the
race,
but
will
be
out
to
limit
any
further
time
losses
on
the
next
two
days.

“We
only
lost
one
minute
from
Seb
today
and
tomorrow
we
have
a
good
position
on
the
road.
Today
we
had
no
punctures
or
any
issues
with
the
car.
Mathieu’s
navigation
was
good,”
said
three-time
champion
Dakar
Rally
champion
Al
Attiyah.

Loeb
edges
close

Chasing
the
ace
Qatari
down
over
every
stage
is
nine-time
World
Rally
Championship
(WRC)
winner
Sebastien
Loeb.
The
Frenchman’s
BRX
Hunter
has
been
in
attack
mode
for
over
a
week
now,
but
still
the
gap
to
his
Qatari
rival
stands
at
32m40s.
Unfortunately
for
Loeb,
he
now
seems
to
be
running
out
of
road.

“We
can’t
try
any
more
than
we
are
already
doing
to
catch
Nasser.
The
gap
is
big,
but
we’ll
do
everything
we
can
in
these
last
two
days
to
get
as
close
as
we
can,”
said
Loeb.

Peterhansel
surges

On
a
day
when
Peterhansel
surged,
in
the
bikes
category,
Frenchman
Adrien
Van
Beveren
is
back
in
overall
command
after
several
front-runners
hit
trouble
through
the
rocky
outcrops
of
Wadi
Ad
Dawasir.

In
the
trucks
category,
a
dominant
drive
from
Russia’s
race
leader
Dmitry
Sotnikov
extended
his
advantage
as
the
Team
Kamaz
Master
driver
looks
set
to
make
it
back-to-back
victories
at
the
Dakar.