The French Stephane Peterhansel (Audi) won this Tuesday the fourth and penultimate stage of the Morocco Rally, a 343-kilometer special between Zagora and Merzouga and after that the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) took over the overall lead after the Qatari’s engine problems Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), in another difficult day for the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Audi).
Peterhansel, 58 years old and fourteen times winner of Dakar Rallywon the duel on the sands of Merzouga to sign his first victory this season of World Rally-Raid (W2RC).
‘Monsieur Dakar’ wins the stage ahead of Argentine Orlando Terranova (Bahrain Raid Xtreme), second in 7:01 minutes. And four representatives of Overdrive Racing finished behind: also the Argentine Juan Cruz Yacopini (at 8:04), the Kazakh Denis Krotov (at 8:41), Al-Rajhi (at 8:51) and the Italian Eugenio Amos (at 10:42).
‘Nani’ Roma, in the Top-7 and problems for Sainz and Nasser
The new M-Sport Ford World Rally Team made it into the top 10 of the stage thanks to a good performance by Spanish Joan ‘Nani’ Rome, seventh in 12:11.
Carlos Sainz, who had everything to win the stage with just over 30 kilometers to go, suffered a mechanical setback that forced him to stop and lose a lot of time, managing to finish the day in 47:36 behind the winner. Al-Attiyah also suffered similar problems and almost at the same place, reaching the finish line 1h.23:38 behind the winner.
so, Yazeed Al-Rajhi is in the lead and this Wednesday he will look for his second victory of the year in the W2RC world championship after the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Peterhansel is now second in 3:49 minutes. For his part, another of the great names of the Moroccan race, Sébastien Loeb had an accident that forced him to stop at kilometer 230 as they quickly battled for stage victory.
Third of the four wheels is Juan Cruz Yacopini24:10 minutes from Al Rajhi.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
