The breakage of a bearing in the absence of 140 kilometers to complete the special on Wednesday left Carlos Sainz without the opportunity to achieve his second consecutive victory in the Dakar 2022, one day after winning the first victory of Audi at Dakar, doubly making history by conquering the first triumph of an electric motorized vehicle in the history of the toughest test in the world. Finally, the Spanish rider crossed the finish line in fourth position of the day at 52 ” Al-Attiyah, winner of the stage with a 25-second advantage over Loeb (2nd).
The Madrid rider pressed from the 239 kilometer pass, where he passed third, and at the next point he was already the leader, at the 314 kilometer. He had everything under control, with a good pace thanks to the speed of Charles and the good navigation of Lucas on the dirt tracks of the special bliss. But finally, the Spanish Audi crew was left at the doors by the aforementioned setback.
Al-Attiyah, more leader but will open track
Al-Attiyah had perfectly re-measured his pace to gain an advantage over Loeb, and in turn, not winning the stage to avoid getting into trouble by opening the track in stage 5. But finally, the theoretical initial winner, Al-Rajhi, lost the triumph due to a speeding penalty. Thus, the Qatari will have a difficult ballot in this stage 5: he will have to open the track on a day in which he will not have the motorcycles ahead of him since his stage will be different.
The Qatari continued to increase his advantage and is heading with great determination, as the wizard king in East, towards the most desired scepter. In this case, Nasser put 25 seconds more to Sebastien and after this stage 4, in the absence of 8 to be disputed, that of Toyota he has an income of 38’05 ”on the nine-time world rally champion. But in this stage 5, the prince of the desert will have a real litmus test.
Nani Roma, with problems, returns by road
Major problems suffered Nani Rome, no luck in this Dakar rally 2022. The one of Folgueroles, together with his co-driver Alex Haro, suffered a capsize in the first part of the special. He chose to continue with the damaged car, having already lost 1 hour and 25 minutes. And later, the Catalan stopped again when he saw a wheel break. There he decided to go to the bivouac by road, so Nani will receive a 16-hour penalty for the general to re-engage in the race.
Carlos Checa did not start and hopes to re-enlist
The one who could not even start the stage was Carlos Checa. The former MotoGP rider and Superbike world champion, saw how the great debut he was making in the Dakar it was cut short by a rollover in stage 3, which made him arrive towed to the bivouac with the car wrecked after several laps of the bell. A day later, he was unable to start and hopes to do so at the latest on Sunday (the last day he could re-engage), in the ninth special, waiting for parts to arrive from France to repair his Optimus on time.
Stage 4 and General
Provisional classification Stage 4:
1. Al-Attiyah 3h54’40 “
2. Sébastien Loeb at 25 ”
3. Carlos Sainz at 52 ”
4. Seaidan at 1’34 ”
5. Al-Rajhi at 1’46 ”
6. From Villiers at 3’55 ”
7. Brinke to 4’07 ”
8. Przygonski at 5’10 “
9. Serradori at 6’43 ”
10. Terranova (with Oliveras de copi) at 8’38 ”
11. L. Álvarez (With Monleón de copi) at 11’52 “
General classification after stage 4 (provisional):
1. Al-Attiyah 13h26’02 ”
2. Sébastien Loeb at 38’05 ”
3. Al-Rajhi at 49’15 ”
4. From Villiers at 49’17 ”
5. L. Álvarez (With Monleón de copi) at 53’58 ”
6. Vasilyev at 1’03 ”52
7. Przygonski at 1’11 ”57
8. Prokop at 1’13 ”26
9. Terranova (with Oliveras de copi) at 1’16 ”42
10. Halpern at 1’17 ”23
Carlos Sainz at 2’20 ”13
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