Some say Dakar’s penultimate day is the most dangerous – follow it right here!
It is said that Dakar is at its finest – and most dangerous every year with two days left to race. And that’s exactly where we are today as competitors face a real 511 km sting in the tail through virgin territory to Yanbu. Will it once again change the shape of the 2021 race, as it so famously has, so often? As they say, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. And she’s still on holiday…
Click here to read Tuesday’s race report
Re-live Tuesday’s live action on the ticker here
DAKAR DAY 11 LIVE TICKER HERE:
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16h00 Cars: And that’s all folks! Here’s today’s full race report, just as it will appear in many of tomorrow’s papers!
14h37 Cars: Al Attiyah beats Peterhansel by a minute and 56. He needs to find a another fifteen minutes to beat him tomorrow.
14h25 Cars: The gap between Peter and Nasser is 38 seconds at the final WP. Both now lead Qassimi in the day race too
13h45 Cars: Peterhansel edges away to lead Attiyah by 26 seconds at 404 km. Al Qassimi is now the day leader by a minute from the above paie
13h30 Cars: Meanwhile there is action in the cars as Al Attiyah hauls over 3 minutes off Peterhansel in the last sector to trail him by just 7 seconds…
13h20 Bikes: Benavides clawed back 3 minutes in the last sector as Sanders takes the day from him, Sanders, Walkner and Brabec, leaving Benavides four minutes clear of Sunderland with Brabec 1:13 off the lead. And all to play for!
13h10 Bikes: The Hondas are home as we await Sunderland who has KTM wing man at his side as they speed to the finish of the day’s stage…
13h00 Bikes: Sunderland has slashed the overall lead to 46 seconds at WP10! Now it’s a straight KTM vs Honda fight! The Aussie has taken a quarter hour back today…
12h30 Bikes: Now Sunderland is down to 3 minutes 49 behind Benavides overall at 404 km. 60 to go today…
11h55 Bikes: Another dramatic sector as Sunderland storms into second overall – the KTM man has taken 4:40 out of Benavides and 10:40 out of Brabec to split the Hondas overall at 362 km, under 6 minutes behind Benavides as he leads the day
11h30 Cars: Peterhansel stamps his authority taking 3 more minutes away from Al Attiyah at 236 km. Al Qassimi is Peter’s closest rival; today with Sainz third ahead of Attiyah, Al Rajhi and de Villiers in the stage
11h00 Bikes: Sunderland leads Benavides by 2:59, B rabec by nine, overall its Benavides with seconds separating Sutherland 7 minutes behind…
10h55 Bikes: Barreda is out of fuel after missing the fuel oasis!
10h00 Cars: Sainz sets the pace today but the focus is on provisional second and third where Al Attiyah has taken just 46 seconds away from Peter who still has a 16 minute 46 advantage. The rest are already spread out with de Villiers and Przygonski already over 10 minutes adrift and Qassimi and Despres on the pace.Now the cars head into that long sector that so shook up the bikes this morning.
09h55 Bikes: Sunderland is second through WP4, so he also closes to 8 minutes of the lead – now we have a real race on our hands!
09h45 Bikes: Huge news here – Barreda took 9:36 out of Benavides and 12:12 from Brabec in that sector so the virtual top 3 has closed right up with Benavides the virtual leader by 3:27 to Brabec with Barreda looming at 6 minutes adrift having just closed 12 minutes on the leader Now where’s Sunderland?
09h30 Bikes: Barreda is first through super-long WP4 at last – that was a 90 km slog. What gives behind him?
09h25 Cars: Brian Baragwanath now third at WP1, Giniel P6
09h15 Cars: While some of his rival drivers and teams – and even his teammate regularly criticise everything from the road book to tyres and too much speed, Stephane Peterhansel has just got on with it. No complaints, few tyre problems and seemingly always on the right trac, this guy is on another planet. Were he to lose this race, it would be a travesty…
09h10 Cars: Peterhansel leads Sainz, Nasser and Al Rajhi – they are first through WP1
08h35 Cars: The first cars are in the stage – it’s the Peter and Nasser Show – let’s do this!
08h30 Bikes: Barreda and Sunderland are within 10 seconds as Sanders leads the KTM charge tied with Husqvarna man Quintanilla. Is he fight for the win is going to be between the Hondas or can KTM get Sunderland into the mix? The live gap between overall leaders Benavides and Brabec is meanwhile up 30 to 1 minute 31 as benavides went ahead of Brabec at WP3. But its early days yet…
07h30 Bikes: On cue the KTMs are charging – its early days but Daniel Sanders led Sam Sunderland and the Hondas of benavides, Barreda and Brabec by 41 seconds at WP1
07h00 Bikes: Something to ponder this morning as Ricky Brabec passes through WP1, the Californian was almost 18 minutes off the lead on Monday and convinced his chance of a back to back win was done. This morning he started a minute behind race leader, Honda teammate Kevin Benavides. So with Joan Barreda in a better starting position as we have seen from the second machine away every day and Sam Sunderland getting off an even better start slot, with those two respectively ten and 15 minutes adrift overall, quite literally anything can happen today. As we often remind you – hold on to your hat!
06h00 All: Today’s decisive stage has shortened by about 50 kilometres to avoid an area affected by recent bad weather. Organisers however promise that dunes will remain the backbone of a route set to ‘put the competitors and their vehicles through the wringer’…
05h30 All: Bikes start 06h35, cars 08h25. Don’t miss it!