After finishing stage 3 on Monday behind Brazilian Lucas Moraes’ Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux and Mattias Ekström’s Audi e-tron, Yazeed Al Rajhi managed to finish stage 4 just behind WRC legend Sebastien Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter and charged to the top of the standings in Dakar 2024.
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Despite initially running behind Qatari defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, Loeb took his first stage win of this year’s event, followed by Al Rajhi who finished just 1 minute 8 seconds behind the Frenchman. Al-Attiyah managed third fastest, ahead of dual Audi e-tron’s driven by Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel.
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“After 50 or 60 km we took the lead, to open the way and it was not easy. We had a slow puncture before 150 to 180 km. As we went on the tyre pressure started to drop, and the back of the car dropped, until it reached 1.4 bar by the finish, but it’s ok. It’s lucky we slowed over the last 100 km, but everything is going well. I’m always ready for the desert, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”, Al Rajhi said.
Al Rajhi maintained his gap from his performance on Stage 3, to stay atop the overall rankings after stage 4, with Carlos Sainz second and Nasser Al-Attiyah third in the Dakar 2024 standings.
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Wednesday’s stage 5 from Al-Hofuf to Shubaytah has a deceptively short special, at just 118 km long, but filled with treacherous dune fields paired with a 527 km long liaison. It’s expected that few competitors will reach the bivouac before the sun sets.
DAKAR 2024 RANKINGS AFTER STAGE 2
- Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive Racing): 15 hours 44 minutes 39 seconds
- Carlos Sainz (Team Audi Sport): 15 hours 49 minutes 08 seconds
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (Nasser Racing): 15 hours 55 minutes 42 seconds
- Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing): 16 hours 04 minutes 10 seconds
- Mattias Ekstrom (Team Audi Sport): 16 hours 04 minutes 21 seconds
- Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme): 16 hours 08 minutes 29 seconds
- Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Factory Team): 16 hours 08 minutes 59 seconds
- Stéphane Peterhansel (Team Audi Sport): 16 hours 11 minutes 35 seconds
- Vaidotas Zala (X-Raid Arjius Team): 16 hours 17 minutes 31 seconds
- Guillaume de Mevius (Overdrive Racing): 16 hours 25 minutes 22 seconds
Here’s some action from the Dakar Classic category
