Dakar 2021 Stage 3 | Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah continues to dominate
Stage three of the Dakar Rally has concluded. Nasser Al-Attiyah along with co-driver Matthieu Baumel, the Toyota Gazoo Racing duo, left no dune unexplored and the years of experience reflected in the way they tackled the tough terrain. Finishing in second place with a gap of about 02:26 minutes were Gazoo Racing teammates Henk Lategna and Brett Cummings. Stephane Peterhansel and co-driver Edouard Boulanger of the X-Raid Mini JCW Team finished third.
In a surprising turn of events, Carlos Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz of the X-Raid Mini JCW team got lost 88km into the stage after which he briefly made up his time and got back into the second spot before ultimately falling back and finishing P21 with a time of 03:48:41 hours. Stephane Peterhansel and co-driver Edouard Boulanger also stopped briefly to change their tyre. Nine-time WRC winner Sebastian Loeb of team BRX finished P6 in the stage three.
General Rankings after stage three
Stephane Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger of the X-Raid Mini JCW team retain first place with a total time of 10:39:02 hours. Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel of Toyota Gazoo Racing with their stellar driving today have moved up a spot to second position while Mathieu Serradori and Fabian Lurquin of SRT Racing are now in third place with a time of 11:05:23 hours. Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz of X-Raid Mini JCW team lost two spots and are now placed P4 thanks to their performance today.
It is the first loop stage in the 2021 edition of the Dakar where competitors traversed a total of 630km from Bisha to Wadi Ad-Dawasir. The special stage was 403km long. Stage three was a lot more technical and grueling however Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah made it look easy.
Stage four of the 2021 Dakar rally will set off tomorrow and will see contestants travel from Wadi Ad-Dawasir to Riyadh, covering 813km of which 337km will be the special stage.
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