Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al Attiyah are hooked again

Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al Attiyah They are two notoriously irreconcilable enemies fighting for the same thing: to be the best in the Dakar rally. The Qatari has had several fights against the Audi team since the last round and after the first stage he again went for the jugular. Carlos Sainz explained that he and Lucas Cruz experienced three punctures and thought he would “lose fifteen or twenty minutes” because of it. Once they transferred it to Nassen, he refuted that idea: “It’s not true. If he had three holes, he’d still be there. It’s not true, forget it. We know who has a hole and who doesn’t. ” t,” emphasized the five-time Touareg winner. made of bronze.

In the statements to the Spanish media upon his arrival, Sainz explained that in the first section, before the stones, he had a slow puncture and because he was losing air, he continued, but after 15 or 20 kilometers started the stones and he had another perforation. “I changed both tires at the same time so I wouldn’t lose them later,” said the Madrid native.

He emphasized that then he had no tires left and he continued in the dust and among the rocks, where he encountered a car and punctured again. Sainz commented that what he did was fill the tire with air from the slow puncture to finish.

“I thought I would lose about fifteen or twenty minutes,” said Sainz, stressing that both Lucas Cruz, his co-driver, and he had “good stages” but “it was very stressful not having a spare tyre.”

When asked about Sunday’s stage, Sainz stressed that he would take a shower first and then, after the briefing, they would think about the stage, after saying that Saturday’s start was chaotic: “It was a half-minute start in half a minute. Akala I it was from minute to minute, but it was dust and more dust.”

“I’m very happy because in the end it was a positive result but I thought we will lose a lot of time,” insisted the Spaniard, who noted that “this has only just begun.”

Regarding his stage – he finished twenty seconds, 26 minutes behind the leader and just over 24 behind Sainz – Nasser Al Attiyah explained that after the first fifty kilometers they had a puncture, then pulled again them and at eighty kilometers “again another puncture, something strange.”

“We didn’t have tires for the rest of the stage, which was 300 km of rocks and we decided to go ‘very easy’ just to finish. I didn’t care anymore, but in the last 15 kilometers – with another easier one. route – I tried and we got a good time,” said Al-Attiyah.

The five-time Dakar champion said that “everyone thinks about the 200 km of black stones – which came in the second part of the stage – but we did not pay attention to the sand of the first section, with many stones and surprises for me.” “The same mistakes as last year in the same area,” he insisted.

So, he commented that “many runners are unlucky and others are not”, like Sainz, who “does a great job and has no problems”, said the Qatari who pointed out that, regardless of whether he has problems or not , ” this Saturday” There is another long phase” and this “is still the beginning”.