Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah successfully navigated the pitfalls of stage four and came back strongly from a three-minute penalty to finish in second place, just 2min 26sec behind stage winner Stéphane Peterhansel in Wednesday’s 672km charge from Neom to Al Ula of Dakar Rally.
The defending champion is now within three minutes three seconds of the overall leader Carlos Sainz.
“We did a great job, but it wasn’t easy. We tried to attack near the end, but it was tricky. I’m happy because it looks like tomorrow there’ll be dunes on the course. We were cautious,” said three-time champion al-Attiyah.
“I’m happy we didn’t suffer any punctures. Mathieu did a great job, we tried to take care of our car because we’ve still got a long way ahead of us. It’s a tough Dakar, I’ve changed my driving style to play it safe whenever necessary,” he added.
Meanwhile, Frenchman Peterhansel, otherwise known as Mr Dakar for his 13 victories in the marathon rally, overcame a wrong turn to clock his first stage win of the 2020 race.
Peterhansel and his Portuguese navigator Paulo Fiuza threw their Mini across the rocks and sand that made up the greater part of the 453k special which also ran close to the historic Nabatean temples, to finish stage four in 4hr 14min 34sec.
At one point they made a wrong turn which cut away some of their lead but they still came home ahead of al-Attiyah in his Toyota.
Overall leader Sainz, who pulled out a stunning drive to win on Tuesday, finished third more than seven minutes behind Peterhansel.
Former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso couldn’t reproduce his great drive on stage three, finishing 26 minutes behind Peterhansel who gave a ringing endorsement of the new Saudi setting for the race.
Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo won the bikes category and is third in the overall standings, 8:31 behind his American Honda teammate Ricky Brabec.
Cars Stage 4 results (top 10)
1. Stephane Peterhansel/Paulo Fiuza (FRA/POR/Mini) 4hr 04min 34sec, 2. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Matthieu Baumel (QAT/FRA/Toyota) at 2:26, 3. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/ESP/Mini) 7:18, 4. Yazeed Al Rajhi/Konstantin Zhiltsov (KSA/RUS/Toyota) 11:30, 5. Mathieu Serradori/Fabian Lurquin (FRA/BEL/Century) 13:17, 6. Giniel De Villiers/Alex Haro Bravo (RSA/ESP/Toyota) 18:16, 7. Bernhard Ten Brinke/Tom Colsoul (NED/BEL/Toyota) 18:35, 8. Jakub Przygonski/Timo Gottschalk (POL/GER/Mini) 19:23, 9. Wei Han/Min Liao (CHN/CHN/2wd) 19:58, 10. Orlando Terranova/Bernardo Graue (ARG/ARG/Mini) 22:22
Overall standings (top 10)
1. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/ESP/Mini) 15hr 12min 12sec, 2. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Matthieu Baumel (QAT/FRA/Toyota) at 3:03 (penalty: 3:00), 3. Stephane Peterhansel/Paulo Fiuza (FRA/POR/Mini) 11:42, 4. Yazeed Al Rajhi/Konstantin Zhiltsov (KSA/RUS/Toyota) 23:10 (penalty: 2:00), 5. Orlando Terranova/Bernardo Graue (ARG/ARG/Mini) 23:13, 6. Mathieu Serradori/Fabian Lurquin (FRA/BEL/Century) 26:55 (penalty: 2:00), 7. Giniel De Villiers/Alex Haro Bravo (RSA/ESP/Toyota) 34:40, 8. Bernhard Ten Brinke/Tom Colsoul (NED/BEL/Toyota) 44:40, 9. Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka (CZE/CZE/Ford) 1h 09:41, 10. Yasir Seaidan/Kuzmich Alexy (KSA/RUS/Mini) 1h 30:25
Nasser al-Attiyah of Qatar and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel compete during Stage 4 of Dakar 2020 between Neom and Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia. AFP
