Dakar: Lategan first in cars, Schareina in the lead in motorbikes

Toyota also achieved its first stage victory in this Dakar. And he did it with a very important success that arrived in the first part of the Marathon with the South African Henk Lategan, always lurking during the previous stages, finally first at the end of the day, dominant in all 452 timed kilometers of the route, finished in 4h47’08”, with an advantage that guaranteed him a sensational comeback in the general classification: from eleventh to first thanks to a stage managed by a dominator and closed seven minutes and three seconds behind Nasser Al-Attiyah, on Dacia, also second in the general classification. Third in the fourth stage of this Dakar, at 14 minutes and 15 seconds, the Polish Marek Goczal, who ended the day in the desert ahead of his son Eryk, fourth was the WRC champion Sebastian Loeb, on Dacia, at the finish line with a delay of 17 minutes and 54 seconds, and currently eighth in the general classification.

pitfalls

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The dangers of the desert hit the American Mitch Guthrie today who, after the victory in yesterday’s stage with his Ford, today had to settle for a 23rd place, 43 minutes from the top of the standings: a result that compromises his position in the general, where he currently stops in thirteenth position. The real twist of the day, however, concerns the winner of the last edition of the Dakar, the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who was the victim of mechanical problems with Toyota and was forced to stop at kilometer 234 of the stage, and therefore sees his dream of repeating last year’s feat in his homeland vanish: he will be able to continue competing but with a penalty that excludes him from the general classification for the remaining part of the competition.

motorcycle

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In the two wheels, however, the leadership of the general classification goes to the Spaniard Tosha Schareina with Honda, winner of the second consecutive stage in 4.31’56”. Second of the day, in the 421 kilometer timed ring, was his teammate Ricky Brabec, who also held the same position in the general classification in a sensational 1-2 Honda: in fact the two are tied in first place in the classification, with the exact same time after four stages and seventeen hours of racing already At the moment Schareina leads the ranking thanks to the best position in the stage just concluded. Closing the podium is a third Honda out of three, that of the thirty-three year old American Skyler Howes, seventh in the general. Tomorrow the first of the two Marathons of this Dakar will end with the fifth stage: like today the split routes will put everyone in action at the first light of dawn, which should have a particular impact on the navigators of the first cars, forced to orient themselves without the traces of the motorbikes because, although this second part of the marathon is generally faster, some sections are full of changes of direction, with rocky terrain which will also require you to sacrifice a few seconds rather than lose many minutes.