• Dakar, died Paulo Gonçalves in an accident

Carlos Sainz (Mini) took the seventh stage of the Dakar on Sunday and again stretched his lead as leader of the race over the Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota) and Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini). On motorcycles, there was also a Spanish triumph, that of Joan Barreda (Honda), on a day of mourning for the death of the Portuguese Paulo Gonçalves.

Sainz added his third stage won in this Dakar to be the fastest in the longest special of the entire rally , with 546 timed kilometers between Riyadh and Wadi Al Dawasir (Saudi Arabia), where he took Al Attiyah 2 minutes and 12 seconds, who finished in second position, and almost three on Peterhansel, who was third.

Thus, the Madrid remains leader in the general classification, now with 10 minutes of advantage over the Qatari driver, winner of the last Dakar, and more than 19 over the Frenchman, thirteen times rally winner, six of them on a motorcycle and seven in car.

Sainz took advantage of the fact that Peterhansel , his teammate, was in charge of opening the track at this stage to eat ground both he and Al Attiyah, who came from behind. Thus the Mini buggy showed that it is still fast on the sand and in the dunes, just as it was during the first week of competition on hard tracks and rock canyons.

The Spaniard went from less to more during the day and in the middle of the stage he was already the fastest driver , a tonic that he kept until the end of the timed stretch.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso (Toyota) added his fourth stage in which he finishes in the top ten by signing the sixth position again. As the Formula 1 champion had already anticipated, the sand and dunes were the favorable terrain to be faster than on the hard tracks and stone roads on which the Dakar moved during its first week.

Alonso became fourth in three of the first four sets of the stage and for a moment touched the possibility of being among the first three, an objective that has been raised before the end of his first participation in the Dakar.

The seventh stage of the Dakar was marked by the death of the Portuguese motorcycle rider Paulo Gonçalves (Hero), who suffered an accident at kilometer 276. On this day the Dakar caravan entered the "Empty Room" of Saudi Arabia , a large desert area of ​​650,000 square kilometers practically uninhabited in the south of the country where the second part of the rally will take place.

24th stage for Barreda

Barreda, on the other hand, thus obtained his first stage victory in this Dakar and the twenty-fourth in his ten participations in the toughest rally in the world, followed by the Austrian Matthias Walkner (KTM) and the Argentine Luciano Benavides (KTM).

In fourth position was the American Ricky Brabec (Honda), who continues as leader of the general classification, although the back positions may vary when the organization returns the time spent by the Australian Toby Price (KTM) and other pilots in auxiliary to Gonçalves.

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