Stéphane Peterhansel, the most successful driver in Dakar history with 14 titles (six in motorcycles and eight in cars, the last in 2021), this year made a difficult debut at the wheel of the new Audi prototype powered by electric power, with the one that has chained breakdowns and problems since the opening day in Saudi Arabia. Today, on the tenth stage, of 374 km between Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha, the Frenchman retaliated and achieved his first victory in the 44th edition of the rally.
‘Monsieur Dakar’ he set a very strong pace from the first stages and crossed the finish line with just over two minutes on his teammate Carlos Sainz on a great day for Audi. Third in goal has been the South African Henk Lategan (Toyota).
Peterhansel becomes the third Audi representative to win a stage at the wheel of the new RS Q e-tron, after Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekström. This increases his personal score of victories in the Dakar in cars to 49, one less than Ari vatanen, which holds the absolute record in the category.
Al-Attiyah resists
With two days to go, nothing seems to stop Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) is crowned for the fourth time in the Dakar. The Qatari rider, who manages wonderfully his wide advantage in the general classification compared to his direct pursuer Sebastien loeb, has maintained an intense pulse with the French during the stage, wheel to wheel, separated by just 2 seconds in the last kilometers.
But still, Al-Attiyah has succeeded of the battle and has given up just over a minute with Loeb, fourth in the finish line and 32 minutes in the provisional general, after the FIA announced yesterday a 5-minute sanction for the leader for not complying with the safety belt regulations on Monday’s stage.
Cars Classification 10th stage (374 km):
1. S. PETERHANSEL-E. BOULANGER (AUDI) 2h: 52: 43
2. C. SAINZ-L. CRUZ (AUDI) at 2:06
3. H. LATEGAN-B. CUMMINGS (TOYOTA) at 4:11 am
4. S. LOEB-F. LURQUIN (BRX) at 4:25
5. N. AL-ATTIYAH-M. BAUMEL (TOYOTA) at 5:50
So goes the general (provisional)
1. N. AL-ATTIYAH-M. BAUMEL (TOYOTA) 33h 13 ’37’ ‘
2. S. LOEB-F. LURQUIN (BRX) at 32 ’40’ ‘
3. G. DE VILLIERS-D. MURPHY (TOYOTA) at 1h 45 ’42’ ‘
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