The Dacia Sandriders' Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah and Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin compete in Stage 8 of the 48th Dakar Rally. AFP
Wadi Ad Dawsir: Five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al Attiyah finished fifth in his Dacia but the Qatari retained the overall lead after the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia yesterday.
Al Attiyah and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin completed the 483-kilometre circuit that started and ended in Wadi Ad Dawasir in four hours, 21 minutes and 51 seconds, just one minute and 16 seconds behind the stage winner Saood Variawa who led a South African one-two yesterday.
“It (the stage) was very difficult. We made a few mistakes near the finish and lost around three minutes. But I am really happy with the performance and we did not lose a lot of time. I think we did a good job. It was not on purpose to prepare the starting position for tomorrow. Today we really needed to win because tomorrow is very important. It is not easy to calculate every day, but we are quite happy. The stage was fast, with a lot of dust, and you cannot see anything. It is one pace and you cannot really make the difference.”
Variawa, who last year became the youngest stage winner in race history, just three seconds ahead of Toyota team-mate Henk Lategan, while Swede Mattias Ekstrom who was third, 29 seconds behind in a Ford.
“The car was perfect on a very long stage on which it was difficult to keep up with the pace,” said Variawa.
Argentinian Luciano Benavides won his second straight stage in the motorbike class, finishing 4min 50sec ahead of KTM team-mate Daniel Sanders, to take first overall by 10 seconds over the Australian.
