This Dakar is merciless: Al-Attiyah suffers but manages to save himself from elimination with the help of Cristina

Then the problems and subsequent abandonment of Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainzamong many others, for damage to the safety arch of their respective vehicles, Nasser Al-Attiyah He was left alone as the big name favorites for the Dakar compared to the other contenders. And this time, In stage 4, at the beginning of the marathon stage, bad luck struck Nasser who seemed to be touched by a magic wand at the start. so it’s complicated Dakar where he managed to escape the setbacks and traps of the land.

This time, it was Nasser Al-Attiyah who suffered a day where if there was anything to avoid it was problems because it was a marathon stage, without help from the teams, even the top cars like from Al-Attiyah can rely on the help of truck mechanics involved in the race. Nasser started by losing minutes due to a puncture and then had to sweat in the middle of the desert when he broke a shock absorber on his Dacia Sandrider.

The Qatari pilot worked with his co-pilot, with the help of Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno, who are now backpackers after rejoining the race, and together they solved the problem and lost as little as possible. Nasser managed to continue and reach the Al Ula finish line, although he lost 33’27” minutes to the stage winner, Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who was still very strong.

In hindsight, Nasser could say that he was lucky, because he was able to save the tools and avoid being taken out of the battle as happened in Sainz and Loeb.

Lategan and Al-Rajhi are not lagging behind

In the general classification, Henk Lategan, who was 2nd in another excellent stage that confirms him as one of the great favorites for the title, remains the leader. and Nasser may not be easy on him as the South African has a better rounded and reliable car. Nasser will have to rely on pride and quality and hope his Dacia doesn’t fail again if he wants to make up his 35’53” deficit over the Whiplasha bridgeable distance for ‘Prince of the Desert’, especially since there are still 8 stages left and many kilometers to go. Al-Rajhi He was second at 6’54”, close to Henkand Mattias Ekströmwas the best Ford at 21’40, while his teammate Guthrie was at 34′.

Armand Monleón, co-pilot of Moraes, continues the fight

The Catalan Armand Monleon He is the best classified Spanish in cars like co-pilot of Lucas Moraesin the official group of toyota. Armand and Moraes They were fifth in 33’25”, keeping their options intact. He is also a Catalan ‘kopi’ Daniel Oliveras, navigator of Yacopiniwas 8th in 41 minutes.