Nasser Racing’s Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel compete during Stage 3 of the Dakar Rally 2024. AFP
Al Duwadimi: Lucas Moraes grabbed his first Dakar stage victory yesterday as Yazeed Al Rajhi finished third to take the overall lead in the car class.
In the bikes, Kevin Benavides claimed victories as a host of his rivals were penalised for speeding and two-time winner Sam Sunderland was knocked out of the race by mechanical problem ended his interest in this year’s edition, organisers said.
Moraes, a Brazilian Toyota driver won the 438km third stage by just nine seconds from Swede Mattias Ekstrom in an Audi.
Saudi Arabian Al Rajhi (Toyota) was third at 1 minute 9 seconds but even he got lost. Quintero, 21, came in 17th on the day and the American now sits 11th in the provisional rankings 27min 18sec behind leader Al Rajhi who is 29 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz (Audi).
The Spaniard finished sixth on stage 3, 3min 29sec behind Moraes.
Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive), who started the day in third, suffered three punctures on the rocky roads from Al Duwadimi to Al Samiya.
Argentine Benavides on a KTM was third across the finish line but was promoted to first after Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) and second-placed Spaniard Joan Barreda (Honda) were among riders caught speeding.
Quintanilla was hit with a six-minute penalty Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero), winner on Saturday, retained first place overall, ahead of Sunday’s winner Chilean Ignacio Cornejo (Honda).
Sunderland, who won the race in 2017 and 2022, saw his dreams of a third crown go up in smoke as a mechanical problem ended his race.
The 34-year-old Briton, who was riding for the Spanish team GasGas, came to a halt after just 11 kilometres.
Sixth overall after Sunday’s second stage, Sunderland gave up after waiting for more than three hours hoping a vehicle would bring him oil.
