After his 50th stage success in the Dakar Rally, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah is very close to his desired sixth overall victory.
The 55-year-old Dacia driver was unbeatable on the twelfth stage over 310 kilometers from Al-Henakiyah to Yanbu and was a further 6:22 minutes ahead of his closest pursuer Nani Roma (Spain/Ford).
“There were a lot of stones, it wasn’t easy, we could have lost everything today,” Al-Attiyah said with relief afterwards.
Before the last section of the desert rally through Saudi Arabia on Saturday with start and finish in Yanbu (105 kilometers), Al-Attiyah is more than 15 minutes ahead of Roma, while former DTM champion Mattias Ekström (Sweden/Ford) in third place is already 23:21 minutes behind.
Al-Attiyah already won the Dakar in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2022. The record winner in the car category is the Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (8/last 2021).
