After Nasser Al-Attiyah overtook Volkswagen teammate Carlos Sainz over the previous two stages, most would have expected the Qatari to open the gap on the ninth stage of Dakar – but Sainz demonstrated some WRC prowess in chasing Al-Attiyah down and battling it out till the end of the shortened 207 km special.
Al-Attiyah started out in front yesterday, but lost precious time due to a puncture halfway through the stage. This allowed Sainz to catch up with, and pass his teammate. Afterwards it was pretty much neck and neck as the two tussled for position on the rough terrain. Sainz eventually crossed the line just 4 seconds ahead of his teammate.
“I'm happy with my day, especially since dunes, desert and off-track terrain aren't my favourite type. We drove a good special. After 100 km we caught up with then overtook Nasser Al Attiyah. He had a puncture, but afterwards he clawed back a bit of time on us,” said Sainz.
While Sainz narrowly took victory, Al-Attiyah remains three minutes ahead overall. This could play into the Qatari’s favour as the Spaniard known as “El Matador” has to take the lead going into today’s special stage, in which the Dakar camp cross the Andes back into Argentina.
Further down the field, South African Giniel De Villiers finished in third, a little less than ten minutes after his fast colleagues crossed the stage finish, and remains a third overall – 55 minutes behind the top two Touaregs and almost an hour ahead of the BMW X3 X-raid of Stephane Peterhansel.
“Today we again made up time on Stephane Peterhansel in the BMW. This was important. Our job is to keep Peterhansel behind us. On this short but tricky stage it was all about getting through it without mistakes and looking after the car,” De Villiers said.
In the truck category, it seems as if Tatra’s Ales Loprais is out of the title chase, as he lost three hours after he was forced to stop in the desert. Kamaz leaders Firdaus Kabirov and Vladimir Chagin are still at it, with Kabirov turning the tables on his colleague, taking back the overall lead by overcoming a 5 minute deficit with a performance that gives him a 7 minute advantage.
Today, the teams head out on a long liaison to the Chilean-Argentine border, before the 176 km long special in which they cross the Andes, climbing as high as 4 700 metres above sea level and head down toward Chilecito through the notorious white dunes near Fiambalá.