For the Stage 3 of Dakar 2020, the competition went on a loop around the Neom city for a 504 kilometres dash including 427 kilometres of Special stage.The fast tracks in the first 100 kilometres mostly led competitors on a slalom between the giant rocks of Wadi ash Sharmah as the drivers swept around the Jabal ash Shifa Mountains ending with a rocky terrain in the final section. In the end, 57 years-old Carlos Sainz won the stage thus gaining the championship lead as well.
Interestingly, two Saudi drivers impressed on their home soil in Stage 3. Yasir Seaidan and Yazeed Al Rajhi capitalized on their home advantage finishing third and sixth, respectively. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso recovered from his terrible Stage 2 setback crossing the line at an impressive fourth position. The ex-Formula 1 driver now stands at 32 in the overall ranking. A steady sprint across the desert meant Jakub Przygonski finished second in Stage 3 upping his position in the overall standings.
Stage 3 saw an intense three-way battle between Dakar winners – Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al-Attiyah, and Stephen Peterhansel. These three Dakar veterans have 18 victories between them and winning in the Saudi turf was apparent in their bout on the Third Stage. In the end, struggling with the English navigation from new co-driver Paulo Fiuza, Peterhansel got lost in the last stint and finished seventh. Nasser Al-Attiyah having suffered punctures on both of the previous Stages had a trouble-free run swapping the lead with Sainz on many occasions throughout the Stage. But the Toyota Gazoo driver received a penalty of three minutes meaning he moved down the Stage finish to P5.
The Qatari had to settle for second place in the overall standing after two-times Dakar winner Sainz settled comfortably in the JCW X-Raid Mini finishing four minutes clear of Al-Attiyah. The veteran Spaniard was almost in cruise control as he flew across the Saudi desert on his way to the championship lead of three minutes and 31 seconds over defending champion Al-Attiyah.
Stage 3 wasn’t free of disasters either. Former WRC driver Khalid Al Qassimi had a good start but his Peugeot suffered a massive crash. The car went into a roll 300 kilometres into the stage but both the driver and co-driver Xavier Panseri were checked okay by the medical team. A great misfortune struck Russian driver Vladimir Vasilyev, who was running at P9 when his X-Raid Mini caught fire halfway into the stage. Vladimir and his co-driver Vitaliy Yevtyekhov luckily escaped before the car engulfed in flames and they could only watch as it burnt to the ground.
Next Stage will move from Neom to Al-Ula around 672 kilometres away passing close to the Nabatean temples.
