The French Stephane Peterhansel (Mini), second this Sunday in the Dakar 2021, consolidated his leadership in the general classification of cars, in a seventh stage disputed between Hail and Sakaka, in Saudi Arabia, in which the Chilean Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) he put first on motorcycles, after finishing second the day.
The 737-kilometer auto stage, with 453 km of special stages, was won by Saudi Yazheed Al Rajhi (Toyota) with a time of 4 hours, 21 minutes and 59 seconds.
Peterhansel launched in fourth position and led most of the race before finally giving in to the local driver, about 100 kilometers from the finish, entering the finish line 48 seconds behind the Saudi.
«40 km from the finish, we hit a rock and a tire broke. It took a long time to change the wheel and it was a mess. It’s a shame because we were doing very well in the intermediate points and we could have gotten quite a head start, but we haven’t been able to seize the opportunity, ”said Peterhansel.
Al Rajhi thus achieves his second partial victory in the event, since his first participation in the rally-raid in 2015.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Mini) finished third of the stage, 1 minute and 15 seconds, while the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) was fourth, 2 minutes and 48 seconds behind the winner.
Overall, after finishing six times in the top three in the seven stages, ‘Monsieur Dakar’, as Peterhansel is known, due to his 13 victories in the rally-raid, takes first place, with 26 hours, 36 minutes. and 50 seconds, and it raises its advantage over Al-Attiyah, triple Dakar winner, to 7 minutes and 53 seconds.
Carlos Sainz, third
The last winner of the event, Carlos Sainz, is third overall, more than 40 minutes behind the leader. For his part, the Chilean Cornejo, second in the motorcycle stage, won by his American Honda teammate, Ricky Brabec, winner of the last edition of Dakar, took the lead overall.
Brabec, only eighth overall, won with a time of 4 hours, 37 minutes and 44 seconds in this highly contested stage.
The North American entered the finish line with an advantage of 2 minutes and 7 seconds over Cornejo and 2 minutes and 19 seconds over the American Skyler Howes (KTM).
«Second in the seventh stage and we went on to lead the general. Today was the first part of the marathon stage, only the riders were able to work on our bikes at the end of the stage, tomorrow we will return with our mechanics and assistance teams. To maintain focus and concentration. Thank you all for your support, ”Cornejo wrote on his Instagram page.
Cornejo is now just a second ahead of Australian Toby Price (KTM) in the standings.
The third place in the general, 2 minutes and 11 seconds behind the Chilean, is held by the British Sam Sunserland (KTM), winner of the 2017 edition of the Dakar.
This day was the first part of a marathon stage in which the pilots will be the only ones who can intervene on their machines on Sunday and Monday
Death of Hubert Auriol
Precisely on Monday, the Dakar caravan will go from Sakaka to Neom, in the west, on the shores of the Red Sea, for the eighth stage of the 43rd edition of the Dakar.
This second part of the marathon stage that began on Sunday will be 709 km long, with 375 km of timed section.
Coinciding with this seventh stage, Frenchman Hubert Auriol, former driver and former director of the Dakar Rally, died this Sunday “of a cardiovascular accident, after a long fight against the disease,” his family announced to AFP.
Hubert Auriol, 68, was nicknamed ‘the African’, not only because he was born in 1952 in Ethiopia, but also because of his success in the famous rally-raid, where he was the first to win on motorcycles (1981 and 1983) and cars (1992). In 1995 he became director of the Dakar, a role he held until 2004.
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