On Friday, athletes covered 620 kilometers around Riyadh, of which 402 kilometers were special stages.
The crew of Terranova (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) reached the finish line in three hours, six minutes and 45 seconds.
The Swedish crew with pilot Matthias Estrström (“Audi”) lost a minute and six seconds, and the host Jazid Al-Rajhi (“Overdrive Toyota”) lost one minute and 49 seconds.
Al-Athia (Overdrive Toyota) Al-Rajhi is 48 minutes and 54 seconds ahead of Bahrain Raid Xtreme (50) and 25 seconds.
“Kreda” team with Lithuanian pilot Antanas Juknevičs and Latvian co-driver Didzi Zariņš finished in 41st place, 38 minutes and 44 seconds behind the winner.
In the overall rating, the “Kreda” crew loses 27 hours, six minutes and 33 seconds to the leader, taking the 55th place in the 78 crews competition.
Australian Deniel Senders (“GasGas”) won the motorcycle class on Friday, two minutes and 26 seconds ahead of teammate British Sam Sunderland and another ten seconds ahead of Austria’s Matthias Valkner (Red Bull KTM).
The track for motorcyclists was shortened to 101 kilometers, because the track was impassable after the recent heavy rain, as well as the previous day it was damaged by cars and trucks, the organizers of the race report.
The leader in the overall standings is British Sam Sunderland (“GasGas”). The Austrian Matthias Valkner (“Red Bull KTM”) loses two minutes and 39 seconds, but Senders is five minutes and 35 seconds behind.
The 12-stage rally will run until January 14 with a finish in Jeddah.
The Dakar Rally is taking place for the 44th time and is taking place in Saudi Arabia for the third time in a row. Last year, the Frenchman Stefan Peteransel (“Mini”) won the car class in the Dakar Rally, but the Argentine Kevin Benavidess (“Honda”) won the motorcycle race.
The rally took place 29 times in Africa between 1979 and 2007, but was canceled in 2008 for security reasons. However, it made its debut in South America the following year.
The endurance journey, which began in 1979 between Paris and the Senegalese capital Dakar, moved to Saudi Arabia for the first time in ten years last year in South America.
.
