Dakar Rally master Nasser Al-Attiyah’s association with the Prodrive organization at the world’s premier rally-raid event got off to a problematic start, but the Qatari is making up for lost time. After a third-place run on Tuesday’s fourth stage, Al-Attiyah led the way in today’s fifth leg, a short run on the sand from Al Hofuf to Shubaytah.
On a day when some of his rivals opted to play the strategic game, Al-Attiyah went all-out in his Prodrive Hunter and led home Guerlain Chicherit’s Overdrive Toyota by nearly two minutes. It brought the number of constructors with which he has won at least one Dakar stage to seven, and moved him into second place in the overall rankings, 9m03s behind Overdrive Toyota driver Yazeed Al Rajhi. Audi Sport’s Carlos Sainz Sr. slipped to third overall, 11m31s behind.
Al Rahji was among those deliberately playing it cool on this stage. “We didn’t want to open the road tomorrow. This was our plan,” he said after settling for fourth. “During the special, Timo [Gottschalk, co-driver] and I were unsure whether to slow down or not, but I reckon we did the right thing by not easing up too much. Tomorrow will be different. We’ll go on the offensive and see how it goes.”
Audi’s Stephane Peterhansel was even more direct about slowing down with a view to going faster overall: “The stage was a bit odd, at just 118 kilometers (73 miles), but it was crucial for the starting order for tomorrow, where we’ll be tackling a two-day quest through the dunes without the tracks from the motorbikes,” he explained. “I reckoned it wasn’t a good idea to start near the front, so we slowed down and stopped for five minutes before the finish. I don’t think anyone knows what the right strategy is.”
As he closes on the lead for the first time this year, Al-Attiyah is sticking with a simpler strategy.
“There was no strategy on my part. I wanted to win the stage no matter what they have in store for us tomorrow,” he declared. “It’s 600 kilometers long and I don’t mind opening the road. Even if I lose time, what matters to me is finishing these 600 kilometers.”
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The stage produced new names at the top of the motorcycle category too as Chilean Pablo Quintinilla led the way ahead of Monster Energy Honda teammate Adrian van Beveren. But Hero Motorsports’ Ross Branch reclaimed the overall lead with a sixth-place run after his problems yesterday. The Botswanan now leads Nacho Cornejo, who was 14th today, by 1m14s while Cornejo’s teammate Ricky Brabec (seventh on the stage) is third, 3m47s back and feeling good about his prospects.
“Aw, the day was awesome! A big liaison, I think we had 500km this morning. The special was short, 190km, but 100% sand,” said the American rider. “Nacho and I did a good push today. It was full motocross style. A couple of mistakes from me, a couple of mistakes from him, but the time’s looking good.”