Already out of any real competition, the man from Madrid became Ekstrom’s aid in a stage 7 Al-Rajhi won with the leader Al-Attiyah for a walk There was no motorcycle and quad stage due to the beating the day before and the weather
The day was an unexpected break for motorcycles and quads alike. The rain that fell on Friday and the fatigue of the participants upon arrival in Riyadh made them think about the dispute of this seventh stage, to the point that they left the cars and trucks alone.
Among those who were able to get out in their Audi were Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz. Devastated after what happened in the ill-fated sixth leg of the raid, they started from 68th position, but with a total penalty of almost 29 hours for arriving late and failing to pass the checkpoints. Add to that the 10 hours they lost in the desert until they finally reached the camp. The Spanish couple will continue in the race under the ‘Dakar Experience’ modality, which will allow them to fight for each day’s partial wins, but they will not be counted as true competitors, something they would not be able to do for practical reasons. do neither.
His function from now on is to help Mattias Ekstrom, the only Audi still in the race, although he will be able to do little or nothing. The Swede was the only option for the four-ring brand to reach the podium and that was the team’s focus for this Saturday… but disaster struck again. Ekstrom had a problem very similar to Sainz’s the day before, although in this case it wasn’t when he jumped over a dune, but when he went over a rock. The ball joint of the left rear suspension broke and he had to stop to repair it, for which he had the help of Sainz himself and Cruz. The Spaniards stopped to help their teammates as they can do little or nothing else.
There is a feeling that the structural problem of the suspensions is what cost them the Dakar. Audi arrived at this edition of the raid as heavy favourites, with the added benefit of the possibility of the balance of advantages giving them 11bhp more power as early as the fifth day of competition to try and battle with the Toyotas, and specifically Al – Attiyah, and yet they haven’t even completed the first week of competition properly. Peterhansel has given up, Sainz continues but does not count anymore and Ekstrom, who had some hope of saving the team’s honour, has left many this Saturday.
In all of this, the big advantage is Al-Attiyah, who can practically afford to go half throttle for the rest of the match. His only challenge is not to make any navigational errors and that the mechanics of his Hilux hold up, something that will force him to drive with extreme caution. It is no coincidence that this Saturday he spent 19 minutes with the winner of the day, Yazeed A-Rajhi in the Overdrive Toyota, who had an intense battle with Guerlain Chicherit until the Saudi triumphed in the final checkpoints, with Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala between the two after a critical end with his Officer Hunter brother of Sebastien Loeb, who also doesn’t have many ambitions.
Another day of glory, then, for Toyota, which now only has to do damage control to win the world’s toughest raid for the second consecutive year, while Audi, which came with the pretext of being a heavy favorite and a false humility that has come to an end, it costs very dearly.
This Saturday’s stage was the first part of a first and impromptu marathon that will end this Sunday. The contestants enjoyed only two hours of outside assistance in Al Duwadimi before returning to Riyadh where the eighth day of competition will take place next Sunday before the highly anticipated and highly anticipated rest day. This Sunday the bikes and quads are back in action, which guarantees much more excitement in the cars as the big favorites, such as those of KTM, are not bursting at the seams as Audi and its ‘Dream Team’ are .
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
