Sainz has a lead of 13 minutes on Loeb before the final two stages, which add up to 595 kilometers. But after Wednesday’s erzeta, everything could have been different, if it weren’t for Sainz’s faithful “servants”. In the stony terrain, where the rest of the rally will take place, there is a high risk of punctures and Sainz almost paid for them.
“There were more stones than we expected. I tried not to take risks, he drove slowly, but I still punctured three times,” Sainz recounted at the finish line.
At the 250th kilometer out of 371, he suddenly stopped because each crew has two reserves. At that moment, Loeb was erasing Sainz’s accumulated minutes with a drop, before his teammate Mattias Ekström stopped the Spaniard.
He took off one of his bikes, “donated”, as the team hierarchy dictates, two spares, and the Spaniard could continue to snort. While the Swede, who already has no chance of overall success after one unsuccessful stage, remained between the rocks and waited for the service truck to free him.
Just a few minutes later, after this scene took place, Sébastien Loeb also suffered a puncture. As the hydraulic jack did not work for him on the monster, two heavy stones he found on the road served as levers. “I lost 12 minutes. It’s frustrating. And I know that tomorrow will again be a stage with lots of rocks and a big threat of punctures. And I’ll be alone while Carlos has two other cars around him,” Loeb sighed.
Foto: Red Bull Content Pool
Carlos Sainz at the 2024 Dakar Rally
And that can be decisive for the whole plot.
In tense situations, the Dakar Rally is reminiscent of the Tour de France, where domestics work hard for the leaders. And while Sainz has the aforementioned Ekström at hand and Stéphane Peterhansel, the 14-time winner of the Dakar and the local king, who also no longer has a chance in the overall standings, “serves” him, Loeb is a lone soldier in the field. He promised his loyalty to Nasser al-Attíja, who also found himself in the deep order, but in Tuesday’s stage he packed it up after only one kilometer and left the rally angrily. Which made Loeb very angry.
“He did what he wanted. He had no motivation to continue and decided to quit. It’s his decision, he drove his own rally, not the Dakar to help me. If I had the car behind me on Thursday, it would be better. But we’ll see what can be done,” Loeb said disappointedly.
Foto: Red Bull Content Pool
Help in practice. Carlos Sainz is covered by Stéphane Peterhansel on the Dakar Rally track
The team assistant can help repair a flat tire, can give the leader a broken part from his car, or even clean the road when slower cars don’t want to give way… Loeb may believe that his compatriots will help him in this, of which he has enough in the peak. For example, according to the Spanish newspaper, Dumas already annoyed Marc Sainz a lot on the track.
But the Spaniard has one more advantage in the end. After Yazid Raji “didn’t survive” the first week of Dakar, he made his mobile “palace” with a gold-plated shower available to the Spanish elegance, which we informed you about. Sainz initially refused, but when he understood that he would offend the Saudi Arabian rich man, he accepted the offer.
And so, in addition to the help from the star domestics, who in other circumstances could easily fight for the Dakar triumph, he can sleep well until the final days.
2024-01-17 19:15:20
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