Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger have moved into second place on the Dakar Rally following another strong performance by The Dacia Sandriders, which is contesting the hugely demanding FIA World Rally-Raid Championship event for the first time.
After leaving Bisha in southwest Saudi Arabia this morning in third position in the overall ranking following the 48H Chrono stage, Qatari driver Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Boulanger made it through to the finish of Stage 3 in Al Henakiyah with the sixth fastest time. It was a performance that secured second place in the outright order aboard their sustainably-fuelled Dacia Sandrider.
Due to severe storms in the Al Henakiyah region, Stage 3 was shortened from the planned 496 kilometres to a slightly less punishing 327 kilometres by avoiding the rain-hit areas towards the end of the competitive route. Al-Attiyah and Boulanger started fifth on the road, two places Delayed for 40 minutes on Sunday by an electrical issue, Loeb’s bid to make up lost time on Stage 3 was undone when the Frenchman was unfortunate to roll at the 12-kilometre point. Although Loeb and Belgian navigator Lurquin were uninjured following the high-speed incident thanks to the extensive safety features incorporated into the design of the Dacia Sandrider, the car suffered extensive damage.
Having been stationary for approximately five minutes while running repairs were made and two damaged tyres replaced, Loeb and Lurquin stopped again at 63 kilometres to fit a new steering arm after the original was damaged in the roll. They were eventually able to finish the stage, albeit more than one hour behind the winner having been forced to reduce their ultimate pace due to high engine temperature.
Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno restarted from 26th in the running order after they retired from Stage 2 with a powersteering issue. They completed Stage 3 with the 14th fastest time having stopped briefly to provide assistance to Loeb and Lurquin and, again, 80 kilometres from the finish while they changed a damaged tyre.
KEY QUOTES
NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « Today was really not easy with a lot of stones and navigation. We start with a good pace, I feel we are losing some time but when we passed the three Toyotas we tried to push to the maximum, at least to have the gap. But after when we open the last 100 kilometres we need to manage all the way. I’m really happy for the performance and to close the gap to the overall, but there’s still a long way to go. I am sure tomorrow we will have a good road position also. »
CRISTINA GUTIÉRREZ (SPAIN), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « We started with a good pace. We saw Sébastien stopped and imagined he’d had a crash because we saw the carbon fibre. We checked if everything was okay and he asked us to give him some parts and one spare tyre because they didn’t have more. We give them and he told us to continue and follow Nasser. Eighty kilometres from the finish we had a puncture and didn’t have more spares, so we reduced the rhythm a lot to not have another stop. It was a little bit of a mess for Sébastien but we did our best. »
SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « We arrived in a little ditch that was a danger. I don’t know if we were all on the track or if the track was wrong, but it was not in the notes. I get a kick, not too high, but the problem was the car went on the side, we landed and the car rolled. We had two tyres off the rim, we changed quickly, five minutes after we restarted. Then it was correct to continue but suddenly the front steering arm broke, I think it was because of the roll. We didn’t have the spare part because we lost it during the roll. So we had to wait for Cristina to make the repair and then we had an issue with the engine temperature because it was always too hot so the power was reduced a lot. We tried to finish the stage, which is what we did at the end, but we lost one hour. »
DAKAR RALLY PROVISIONAL STAGE 3 RESULTS
Bisha-Al Henakiyah
Stage distance: 327km / Liaison distance: 465km / Total distance: 792km
6th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 3h20m26s
15th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), 3h27m20s
45th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 4h20m12s
DAKAR RALLY PROVISIONAL OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 3
2nd: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 19h12m10s
16th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 20h19m38s
52th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), 55h19m41s