All the Dakar Day 7 action as it happens right here on the Auto Live Ticker!
Moving on to Sakaka and Week 2 of Dakar 2021, we follow the race and in particular the fortune of the South African Dakar cars, men and woman, which have all done us so proud over the first six days. Following Saturday’s well-earned rest day, Sunday starts with a bang as crews tackle the first part of the Marathon stage in a 471 km race to the bivouac Sakaka, where service assistance is not allowed overnight before 375 km of racing to Neom on Monday. Follow the action as it unfolds right here on the Auto Page Live Ticker…
Click here to read Friday’s race report
Re-live Friday’s live action on the ticker here
DAKAR DAY 7 LIVE TICKER HERE:
(Latest updates posted on top, reload page manually for latest updates)
15h30 All: And that’s the wrap – get Sunday’s full story here!
13:15 Cars: Al Rajhi has won the day from Peterhansel, Sainz and Nasser, in so doing opening up hois lead to just under 7 minutes.
12:50 Cars: has Peterhansel hit trouble? He’s late at the final 398 km WP… Indeed he was late – Peter lost five minutes to Al Rajhi who now leads the Mini bu two minutes with Nasser now a minute and a half behind, rather than six..
12h30 Bikes: Californian Ricky Brabec made it a factory Honda 1-2 as he led Chilean Ignacio Cornejo Flormino in to the Marathon bivouac at Sakaka. KTM trio, Brit Sam Sunderland, Aussie Sam Sunderland and American privateer Skyler Howes were next up ahead of French marquis Xavier Soultrait, and Australian Toby Price, who had fought at the front but dropped to end up sixth on his KTM. Friday’s winner Roan Barreda struggled to 14th as he opened the road, Honda teammate Kevin Benavides led but fell back to 8th and Branch finished al looked likely to end up around 30th for the day. The flip-flop lottery Dakar Bike overall lead was turned on its head again as Flormino now leads from Price, Sunderland and Soultrait, with today’s troubled Benavides and Barreda also within ten minutes of the lead. Branch slipped to 13th through the day
12h15 Bikes: Brabec leads the bikes home, likely the day’s winner, but Benavides has now lost 10 minutes at the penultimate control
12h10 Cars: No change up front as Baragwanath and Perry struggle on in what appears to be a stricken Century. Their biggest challenge is still likely to come – no service tonight…
12h00 Bikes: Now Toby Price has hit trouble and is losing time as Kevin Benavides engages his Honda teammate in the dice for the stage win as the bikes speed to the finish. SOutrait is now third from Flormino, Sunderland and Sanders with Price seventh. Ross Branch appears to tbe the the fastest man out there, chasing a likely top-30 outcome today..
11h00 Bikes: Ross continues to keep pace with the front lot where Brabec in now ahead of Price with 150 km to race. Ross is now about 40th from 81st at CP1 after duct taping that Yamaha back together. Where will he end up overall today?
10h55 Cars: Seems tough up front, except for Peterhansel who now leads Al Rajhi by four minutes, Nasser another minute behind and Sainz who lost two minutes this sector. Meanwhile Taye and Brian continue to struggle and have lost almost 1h30 ay CP2
10h35 Cars: Nasser has lost two more minutes versus the rest at 178km. Puncture, perhaps?
10h30 Cars: The overall leaders are fighting it out up front as Peter leads Nasser by 2 minutes. WIll something give? Behind, Rajhi is third from Przygonski and Sainz, Giniel further back in ninth at 148 km.
10h25 Bikes: Ross is on the leaders’ pace albeit 40 minutes behind in spite of a damaged machine. Not much change up front as Price leads Brabec with K Benavides, Soultrait, Sanders & v Beveran squabbling in pursuit
09h20 Cars: Today’s being a bugger for the SA crews – Baragwanath & Perry also had a tough first sector losing 20 minutes. Up front itls again Sainz setting the pace ahead of Attiyah, who has taken a minute out of Peterhansel, who sits fourth behind and Al Rajhi. Giniel was 8th at WP1
09h00 Bikes: Ross has had a good third sector and maintained the gap tot he front. Clearly he’s found how to ride his modified machine, which is a positive considering his no-service dilemma tonight. It’s much closer up front as Price and Barabec hold sway and the others dice behind.
08h30 Bikes: Ross is in for a long, hard day having lost another 10 minutes to WP2. Meanwhile Price led Brabec and Sanders up front at WP3
07h45 Bikes: Good news/bad news – Ross is back on the bike and through CP1 albeit 32 minutes behind leader Price on the first day nobody seems to have got too badly lost. yet. That said, first away Barreda has just lost 6 minutes.
07h40 Bikes: Meanwhile Toby Price leads the way ay WP1 from Sanders, Quintanilla, Brabec, Barreda and Sunderland
07h35 Bikes: Not a good start – Ross Branch crashed before the first waypoint this morning. He’s fine but the bike is damaged and he’s trying to fix it.
06h50 Bikes: As the leading two-wheelers set off, while there’s a pattern in the car results, there’s no such thing in the bikes. With all the daily navigation drama yielding gaps greater than those between the the top thirteen riders overall, this looks to be anyone’s race all the way to the finish in Jeddah
06h30 Cars: An interesting one to watch, is that while Giniel de Villiers had a torrid first week, he’s still ninth overall and just a few minutes behind the three cars ahead and an hour off Przygonski in third. The leaders have had eerily clean runs too and with Giniel’s propensity towards a strong second week, would it be wise to bet against him for yet another podium? Time will tell. Go boet!
06h00 All: The bikes set off at 96h45 and the cars at 08h30 today