Hail (Saudi Arabia) (AFP)
The Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Mini) won the 6th stage of the Dakar-2021 category cars between al Qaisumah and Hail, in Saudi Arabia, while the French Sébastien Loeb (BRX) lost all hope of performing well by breaking the triangle of suspension of his car.
Sainz, winner of the 2020 edition, won by covering the 348 kilometers of the special in 3 h 38 min 27 sec, and preceded the Saudi Yazheed Al Rahji (Toyota) by 4:03 and the Qatari Nasser Al -Attiyah (Toyota) of 7 min 16 sec.
The Spaniard, who had lost time on Thursday and even criticized the course prepared by the organizers, this time pointed in the lead from the first checkpoint to then widen the gap on his pursuers and clinch his second victory in this 43rd edition of the Dakar.
The French Stéphane Peterhansel who took 4th place in the stage retains the lead in the general classification.
He conceded 7 min 34 sec to his teammate Carlos Sainz (Mini) and 18 seconds to Nasser Al Attiyah, his most direct pursuer in the standings.
But "Monsieur Dakar", in reference to his thirteen victories in the rally-raid, still has a comfortable lead of 5 min 53 sec over Al-Attiyah, triple winner of the event.
For his part, Loeb broke his suspension at km 97 and called for his assistance.
At the end of this special, the nine-time world rally champion is lagging behind the leaders and therefore had to give up the final victory.
The stage was shortened by 100 km due to too many competitors delayed and stuck at the end of the fifth stage the day before.
A day of rest for the 250 teams still in the running is on the program on Saturday, in order to recover before the two-day marathon stage which will link Hail to Sakaka (742 km) then Sakaka to Neom (709 km) without any other intervention on the machines. than that of the pilots and co-pilots during their break at the bivouac.
© 2021 AFP