From an aerial point of view, the day’s special could be seen to take place along a line stretching from west to east through the provinces of AlUla and Hail over a distance of 428 km. On zooming in, it became evident that the riders, drivers, and crews experienced an especially varied stage, with an equal amount of quick, sandy tracks and passages that were rocky, sometimes of volcanic nature, requiring caution. At the riders’ and drivers’ level, they encountered rocky formations that looked either formidable or inviting, according to preference, but which never gave a clear indication of which direction to choose. The navigation was tricky on the last part of the special, where taking care of tyres was especially important on the terrain made up of large gravel. Luciano Benavides avoided every single pitfall to dominate the stage on two wheels, as did Seth Quintero, who won for the second time in the week by one second ahead of Nasser Al Attiyah, who is back in the game.
Luciano Benavides has returned to the forefront, having not won a stage on the Dakar since 2023, which was his best year so far. Adrien Van Beveren was deprived of victory on the special by a penalty for speeding but climbed into 4th place on the general rankings.
Daniel Sanders’ position at the summit of the leaderboard has never been under threat. The Australian will be able to enjoy the rest day, with a lead of 6’52’’ over Tosha Schareina and 17’38’’ over Ross Branch. KTM, Honda, and Hero make up the provisional podium.
After a tough day yesterday, Nasser Al Attiyah showed his true colours to regain ten minutes on all his rivals currently on the provisional podium. However, that is exactly the same time as the penalty he was given for reaching the bivouac with a missing spare wheel. As a result, the stage victory goes to Californian Seth Quintero, by the slimiest of advantages – just one second.
Henk Lategan still leads the general rankings, with an advantage of 10’17’’ over Yazeed Al Rajhi and 20’54’’ over Mattias Ekstrom. The Qatari driver, who will have to wait to give the Dacia brand its first success on the Dakar, lies further back, 35 minutes behind the South African leader.
Yasir Seaidan won for the first time in his career in the Challenger class at the finish in Ha’il. The Saudi no longer has a shot at overall victory but still wants to feature prominently in the race. Nicolás Cavigliasso has opened up a gap after taking advantage of the problems encountered by Corbin Leaverton. He now boasts a lead of 28 minutes over Gonçalo Guerreiro, his closest pursuer.
In the SSV category, ‘Chaleco’ López is also still in the hunt for stage victories and picked up a second one today, beating Brock Hegger by 20 minutes. The American will not mind, because he leads the category on the rest day, with an advantage of 1 hour and 21 minutes over his Polaris team-mate Xavier de Soultrait.
Martin Macík is unflappable behind the wheel of his truck, which was the fastest for the fourth consecutive stage, and he can no longer see Aleš Loprais and Vaidotas Žala in his rear-view mirror. His closest pursuer, Michel van den Brink, trails by almost two hours.
Performance of the day
Let’s go back a few days, to relive an episode of Nasser Al Attiyah gently taunting Seth Quintero: “This race is for experienced guys, the youngsters will have to wait their turn,” was the teasing barb launched by the elder driver in the direction of the young man. The Toyota driver provided the best answer of all from behind his steering wheel by winning the first stage on the Dakar. Since then, he has met with too many setbacks to be able to fight for the highest honour at the end of the rally, but he put in another fine demonstration on the way to Ha’il today to pick up a second stage victory. The scenario is all the more comical given that Quintero beat none other than Al Attiyah by just one second on the day’s special and that the Qatari was not narrowly beaten by the American’s speed, but due to a penalty. The Dakar youth movement is well and truly on the march: bearing in mind that the 22-year-old has already won 20 Challenger class specials in his previous participations, his total is already impressive. At this rate, the American could soon rival Al Attiyah in statistical terms. Perhaps he will not have to wait until the age of 40 years old, as Nasser did in 2011, to lift his first Tuareg trophy; it would be unwise to bet against it.
A crushing blow
Corbin Leaverton had high hopes of climbing onto the Dakar podium in the Challenger class on his first participation. Indeed, the Californian enjoyed an excellent beginning to the race, winning the prologue before finishing the first four stages in the top 5. However, the fifth was fatal to his ambitions. Placed in second in the general rankings, he encountered his first mishap of the week with a mechanical problem after 172 km. A similar stroke of bad luck struck his countryman Hunter Miller further on in the special. The SSV category rookie was in 9th place in the general rankings. Another American, Sara Price, also saw her progress halted. Having already been eliminated from the fight for outright victory, she had a stage success in the SSV race within her grasp, before grinding to a halt 45 kilometers from the arrival. The three USA competitors will have the rest day to get over their troubles, before tackling the second week with the firm intention of making up for them.
Source: A.S.O. / Dakar
Photo: © A.S.O. / DPPI
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