Not content with seeing X-Raid Mini teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah and Imperial Toyota Hilux driver Giniel de Villiers run away this early in the Dakar, Argentinian Orlando Terranova made the most of his familiarity with the treacherous rocky terrain to claim another stage win.
Terranova clawed back precious minutes to overall leader Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel, who had a more cautious approach to the day’s stage after starting out ahead of the chasing pack. The pair finished 4 minutes 18 seconds behind Terranova.
“To open the stage is not easy because we needed to be careful with the navigation and because there were no bikes opening the stage. In some places there was no road, but Mathieu did a really good job. We didn’t take any risks,” Al-Attiyah said.
South Africa’s own Giniel de Villiers would most certainly have taken victory had it not been for a puncture that cost them the top honours near the end of the special.
“We tried to push at the beginning to try and catch Nasser and then, in a river bed I had a puncture when I hit a rock so we had to change the wheel and then of course we had to push again. Then it was very bumpy for the second part of the stage. It was really bumpy and at quite high speed, so you really had to concentrate a lot to avoid making a mistake, because you could easily make a big mistake there,” de Villiers said.
Dakar debutant Yazeed Alrajhi was on form in his Overdrive Toyota Hilux. Together with German co-driver (and champion in 2011 alongside Al-Attiyah) Timo Gottschalk, the Saudi finished just under a minute behind de Villiers and to take the final podium position.
Last night, the Amaury Sport Organisation (organisers of the Dakar), confirmed that Polish Farma Prom rider Michal Hernik was found dead on stage 3. After race management detected the loss of his Irritrack signal and was informed that he had not completed the special stage at 15:16, they started a search for Hernik. An ambulance helicopter found the rider 300 metres off the route at 16:03.
Hernik, 39, was taking part in the Dakar for the very first time – having previously finished the Morocco Rally in 2013 and Adu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2014.
CAR offers its condolences to Hernik’s loved ones.
