A problem with the left rear wheel means that Carlos Sainz loses almost an hour in the third stage of the rally. He still cannot be ruled out in the battle for victory, as it hasn’t been a good day for Al-Attiyah either.
On the Dakar, no one gets out of trouble. In fact, no one has won a Dakar without them. In the three stages that we have completed so far, all the favorites have suffered some type of mishap, be it mechanical or navigational, and today it was Carlos Sainz’s turn.
El Matador, who had led the general since his victory in the first stage, lost almost an hour due to a tire problem and several punctures.
After his third position yesterday, behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and Erik Van Loon, today Sainz went all out from this same position. Without opening the track, the Audi man was comfortable, with the rhythm to fight for the first places in the stage, endorsing Nasser for up to seven minutes, who opened the track and suffered.
But on the Dakar you can never consider a good day complete until you reach the finish line. Suddenly, after the fourth waypoint, the Spanish duo from Audi had to stop due to a problem with the steering linkage of the left rear wheel.
They lost more than half an hour repairing it until they could resume the march, although they continued losing time, with the car ‘touched’ and, as if that were not enough, they had a puncture in the final stretch.
كارلوس ساينز الابن @Carlossainz55 سائق فيراري في #فورمولا1 يتابع والده كارلوس ساينز الأب #CSainz_official خلال تصليح سيارته في المرحلة الثالثة من #رالي_داكار 2023🎥: @KSAF_SAMF#داكار2023 #داكار_السعودية2023 #Dakar2023 #DakarInSaudi #F1 #F12023 #essereFerrari #Carlossainz pic.twitter.com/6nNEezmlsW
— Ibrahim Al-Zubaidi 🇸🇦 (@IbrahimAlZubadi) January 3, 2023
Despite this, Carlos and Lucas passed the penultimate waypoint and reached kilometer 378, which was where the stage ended, due to the heavy rains in the area. These prevented the helicopter from being able to fly, something crucial in the event of an accident.
The Spanish duo dropped 56 minutes and 21 seconds behind the winner, the Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit, who competes with a BRX Hunter like Loeb’s, but the most important thing is that Al-Attiyah also had a difficult day and finished thirteenth, with 36 minutes ahead of Sainz. It is a huge difference, there is no doubt about that, but seeing how this rally is going, it is not impossible to overcome it.
In the general classification, Carlos has fallen to eighth position, where he is 33 minutes and 11 seconds behind Al-Attiyah. He has ‘sneaked’ in front of Stéphane Peterhansel, who had already accumulated two difficult days, and who is now third, 20 minutes and 45 seconds behind Nasser. Among them is Al-Rajhi, a Saudi pilot in an Overdrive Toyota Hilux, 13 minutes behind the four-time champion.
Classification of Stage 3 of the Dakar 2023
- Chicherit/Winocq (GCK) 3:22.57
- Lategan/Cummings (Toyota) +3:26
- Newfoundland/Haro (BRX) +5:04
- Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi) +7:47
- Al Rajhi/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota) +8:31
13. Al-Attiyah/Baumel (Toyota) +20:58
41. Sainz/Cruz (Audi) +56:21
Stage victory for Daniel Sanders in Motorcycles
Daniel Sanders has prevailed in the third stage of the Dakar 2023 and this makes him the leader of the general classification of this Dakar 2023 in the Motorcycle category. The GasGas rider beat Kevin Benavides (KTM) by 5 minutes and 23 seconds and Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) by 6 minutes and 19 seconds.
Joan Barreda continues in the ointment despite the fracture in his big toe that he suffered yesterday: today he was fifth, a little over eleven minutes behind the winner of the stage and he occupies the same position in the general classification, just ten minutes and a half of the leader. Lorenzo Santolino, eleventh today, is twelfth, 16 minutes behind the leader.
The fourth stage of the Dakar 2023 will start and finish in Ha’il and will have 425 kilometers in front of the clock, where the participants will face mountains of sand, sandy tracks and a route that, they already warn, will be a challenge for the co-drivers for the navegation.
