[Auto] Loeb wins stage seven in cars ahead of Al-Attiyah; Sainz third

[SougarLord]

 

The Spanish Carlos Sainz signed a meritorious day since, due to the problems in one of its shock absorbers of the innovative Audi hybrid vehicle, he was relegated to the 29th starting position, from which he accused the dust of his predecessors.

 

Even so, he imposed a strong rhythm from the first moment, even becoming the fastest in kilometer 121 of the 421 that the timed section (special) had this Sunday, but he left 3'20 ”in the next 100 and already could not get them back; ending at 7'43 ”from Loeb.

 

The French driver regains second place overall, to the detriment of Saudi Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Toyota), after once again showing that he has pace; but Al-Attiyah is aware that what he has to do to achieve his fourth Dakar (winner in 2011, 2015 and 2019) is to mark him closely.

 

He did this throughout the special and gave up 5'26 ”, which leaves him with a 44'59” advantage in the general classification with five stages to play, and the last one without great difficulties.

 

The Argentine Lucio Álvarez and his co-driver, the Spanish Armand Monleon (Overdrive Toyota) recovered the fourth position of the general since the South African Ginniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo) had problems in his vehicle at kilometer 198 that made him lose more than an hour.

 

Although in their fight for the third box of the podium, they lost three minutes and 34 seconds to Al Rajhi.

 

For her part, Nani Roma (Bahrain Raid Xtreme), with no options in the general classification after suffering a capsize, finished 15'50 ”behind the winner and teammate Loeb.

 

Five first classified of the seventh stage:

 

1 - Sebastién Loeb (FRA-Bahrain Raid Xtreme): 3h9'32 ”

 

2 - Nasser Al-Attiyah (CAT-Toyota): 5'26 ”

 

3 - Carlos Sainz (ESP-Audi): at 8'43 ”

 

4 - Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA-Audi): at 9'40 ”

 

5 - Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU-Overdrive Toyota): 10'3 ”.