Lategan leads cars, Branch third on bikes and more
South African Gazoo Toyota Hilux crew Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings opened their overall Dakar lead to ten minutes, while Botswana biker Ross Branch sat third as Dakar reached its midway rest day on Thursday afternoon.
Qatari Dakar legend Nasser Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Edouard Boulanger however delivered a dominant performance as they took ten minutes out of the field aboard their Dacia Sandrider to cut their overall deficit to leader Lategan to 25 minutes on Thursday, as they finished ahead of Ekstrom, Lategan and Al Rajhi.
On two wheels, Southern African riders Ross Branch, Bradley Cox and Michael Docherty were all in strong positions when Dakar rode into Ha’il for its Friday rest day on Saturday afternoon. Australian KTM rider Daniel Sanders continues to lead the race after his teammate Luciano Benavides took the Thursday stage when initial winner Adrien van Beveren’s Honda and Sanders were penalised for speeding.
Al Attiyah was super quick on Thursday
The 428 kilometre stage ran over a mix of dirt, gravel and sand from the Marathon overnight bivouac at Al Ula to Ha’il, deep in the Saudi. On track meantime, four different carmakers filled the top four at the day’s first waypoint. French Mini duo Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq, Al-Attiyah, Ekström and South Africans Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy in their Toyota Gazoo Hilux then traded the lead as they went in a close dice up front.
Overall leader Lategan climbed up the top ten, bringing Al-Rajhi with. Lategan was soon at the front. Until Al Attiyah went on the offensive leaving Henk to tussle with Ekstrom and Rajhi for second. Attiyah piled on the pressure to draw away from the Toyota and Ford, both of which appeared content to pace each other with Al Rajhi keeping a watching brief.
Attiyah duly stormed home for a monster ten minute win. Running well back, American Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz’s Gazoo Hilux popped up in second ahead of Ekstrom, with Lategan right on his tail and Al Rajhi a few minutes back. Toyota’s Brazilian charger Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon and South African Saood Variawa and Frenchman Francois Cazalet’s Gazoo Hilux came from behind to beat US youngster Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch’s Ford Raptor.
Ekstrom kept pressure on into rest day
French crew, Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier’s South African Century CR7 followed in ninth. Other South African crews, Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer Century CR7, and Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy’s Gazoo Hilux were in the top 20 ahead of Daniel Schröder and South African Henry Köhne’s small budget WCT Amarok. Giniel de Villiers lost an hour when he ran out of spare tyres. Overall, Lategan leads Al Rajhi by ten minutes with Ekstrom a close third from Attiyah and Moraes and Serradori’s Century a fine seventh.
Wednesday bike winner and overnight leader, Aussie Daniel Sanders and his KTM languished in 25th at the first split, where 18th, 33rd and fifteenth starters, American Skyler Howes’ Honda, South African Rally 2 leader Michael Docherty’s KTM and Botswana’s Ross Branch and his Hero Moto led the way. The lead then shuffled between Branch, Californian Ricky Brabec’s Honda and Argentine KTM man Luciano Benavides, who had all started in the second half of the top twenty.
Another Honda rider, Frenchman Adrien van Beveren joined the party up front to soon lead Branch, Brabec and Benavides, with Docherty and class leader Edgar Canet trading blows in front of Rally 2. Leader Sanders meanwhile benefited over three minutes of bonus time to sit only six, rather than ten minutes off the pace in eighth. Up front meantime, Branch nibbled away at van Beveren’s lead as Benavides kept a watching brief and the field headed into the tricky final sector.
Branch sits third overall at the rest day
Van Beveren made best of that final challenge to hold on to his lead, while Branch struggled and lost a couple of places to Benavides and Chilean Hero teammate José Ignacio Cornejo to come in fourth. Brabec rode home third and Sanders amassed over five minutes of bonus to sneak home sixth on a day where his pace would not have seen him near the top ten. Bracket racing at its best!
South Africans, Docherty rode home a provisional tenth and second behind Canet in Rally 2, Bradley Cox had a reasonable day to end 16h, and Aaron Mare was running 40th after a dreadful end to his day on Wednesday. Dwain Barnard in the top 50 and Willem Avenant 100th.
Then the speeding penalties were handed out and van Beveren was demoted to second behind Benavides and Sanders was hit with an eight minute sanction to shuffle him out of the top ten. That also saw Sanders overall lead slashed to just six minutes over Spaniard Tosha Schareina’s Honda and then a splendid spat for third between Branch, who benefited van Beveren’s penalty to jump a place, van Beveren, Skyler Howes’ Honda, Brabec and Benavides.
Cox sits twelfth, and Docherty 14th and third in Rally 2 behind Canet and Tomas Ebster’s similar KTM. Riders will now chill on Friday’s rest day before a monster 605 kilometre run to Al Duwadimi on Saturday.
