It was a tough day for the competition as the longest Stage this season spanned for 886 kilometres between Wadi-Al Dawasir to Harad. With unknown terrains with jagged surfaces and treacherous dunes, race leader Carlos Sainz suffered a huge blow in his X-Raid Mini. Having started the Stage at P15, the two-time Dakar winner lost over six minutes on the stage owing to ripped tyres. Which means Stephane Peterhansel and Nasser Al-Attiyah were able to reduce the Sainz’s lead at the end of Stage 9.
It was a perfect run for defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah who also had a backing of other Toyota drivers. He is now mere 24 seconds behind Carlos Sainz after finishing second yesterday close behind Peterhansel. This was the third Stage win for Stephane Peterhansel. Following closely behind Nasser was another local hero Yasir Seaidan who after getting stuck on dunes yesterday was able to make up the lost time and he finished just 4m48s behind the Stage winner.
Meanwhile, Jakub Przygonski, Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Bernard Ten Brinke and Giniel de Villiers finished in P4, P6, P7 and P8. Right behind them was Fernando Alonso 13minutes adrift the leader. The former Formula 1 and Le Man champion has now managed to climb to 10th position overall with his dream Dakar debut run.
For the remaining three days, competitors will face a new challenge – marathon stage. In this challenge, the competitors will not be able to receive assistance from their technical crews and will have to make any necessary repairs by themselves. We could see some real sportsmanship in this marathon run.
