Barreda and Al-Attiyah’s Trophy Cases Keep Growing

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Al-Attiyah Nasser (qat), Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+, Auto FIA T1/T2, W2RC, portrait at the start, DSS during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia © Julien Delfosse / DPPI

FOCUS
The first third of the race came to an end with stage 4, a formidable challenge and, at 465 km, the longest
special of the 44th Dakar. As David Castera put it in the briefing yesterday evening, it was a play in three acts. The first section, 40 km long, was packed with enough forks in the road to give competitors a headache. Then came today’s dune area and, to cap it all, a “more technical” finale. Made up of 80% dirt, sometimes drenched in water, such as the wadi near the end of the special, the course from Al Qaisumah to Riyadh featured more threats than opportunities. Peterhansel, Roma, Chicherit and Domżała, to name just a few well-known entrants, were tried and found wanting. However, one racer’s pain is another one’s gain, and competitors such as Al-Attiyah and Barreda seized the opportunity to expand their stage win trophies.

#07 Quintanilla Pablo (chl), Monster Energy Honda Team 2022, Honda CRF 450 Rally, Moto, Motul, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI © Florent Gooden / DPPI

OUTLINE
Classic Barreda. Starting in 24th place, he made the most of the longest special of the rally to set out on a
spectacular ride, picking up his teammate Pablo Quintanilla along the way as a trusted companion for
navigation and going flat out right up to the finish line to take the spoils for the day. And it was only his 29th Dakar victory! The biker from Valencia also soared to seventh place overall, within striking distance of the top 5, still led by Sam Sunderland with Austrian Matthias Walkner now in second place. Lorenzo Santolino earned a place among the elite with the fourth fastest time, while his Sherco teammate Rui Gonçalves claimed his first stage podium (see Performance of the day). Nasser Al-Attiyah has not known what it feels like to go home empty-handed from the Dakar since 2007, but he could have done without his 44th, awarded to him in the stage to Riyadh after Yazeed Al-Rajhi, originally credited with the best time, was handed down a penalty. Why? Because in tomorrow’s loop stage he will soon see his closest rival, Sébastien Loeb, in his rear-view mirror (albeit with a 38-minute margin). The Frenchman made the wise choice to finish second in the special after operating his BRX Hunter at maximum efficiency throughout the special. On a completely different note, South African Henk Lategan showed that he has the pace to shoot for the stars with a string of blistering times at the intermediate time checks, but his hopes of a high overall finish were dashed when he smashed up his rear right wheel 310 km into the stage… Game over. BRX also had its fair share of bad luck. “Nani” Roma had to throw in the towel after being unable to recover from a barrel roll, spelling the end of the 2014 champion’s podium challenge. In the quad race, the Argentinian title holder, Manuel Andújar, is still playing catch-up with leader Pablo Copetti. The T3 category witnessed a new episode of the Seth Quintero Show as the American racked up his fourth triumph, while “Chaleco” López managed his 20-minute lead over his South Racing teammate Sebastian Eriksson. The outfit is similarly dominating the T4 race with Austin Jones, unfazed by the Polish clan’s clean sweep of stage wins. Today was Michał Goczał’s turn to claim victory, his second this year, just like his brother Marek! The truck category is also a family affair of sorts, as Eduard Nikolaev signed the 170th stage win by Kamaz, which also leads the rally with Dmitry Sotnikov.

211 Loeb Sébastien (fra), Lurquin Fabian (bel), Bahrain Raid Xtreme, BRX Prodrive Hunter T1+, Auto FIA T1/T2, W2RC, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia © Florent Gooden / DPPI

PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY
Since its creation by Marc Teissier in 1988, the French maker Sherco has carved itself out a niche among
the constructors that matter in trial and enduro. This meteoric rise no doubt was an inspiration to two of its three factory riders today, this time in a rally raid. Rui Gonçalves and Lorenzo Santolino finished together in third and fourth place, respectively, behind Barreda and Quintanilla’s two factory Hondas, in the longest special of this edition. Yesterday, Rui posted the breakthrough performance of the first part of the race. Today, he pulled off a podium finish, his first ever in the Dakar, in only his second participation. The ever-consistent Santo has finished sixth, fifteenth and fourth since the start in Jeddah and is sitting in fifth place overall, 10′28″ behind the leader, one third through the rally. Sherco’s success comes months after the race service at its factory in Nîmes went up in smoke in an accidental fire last September. The mechanics only managed to save the race motorbikes. This setback made preparations for the Dakar even more difficult, but it failed to dampen the motivation of the French technical staff, which got its first reward for the efforts made to bring the three overhauled 450 SEF Rally motorbikes to the start line. “Impossible is not French”, or so the old saying goes, and Sherco has proved it by winning the trial and enduro world championships. This year, it has stepped up to the Dakar challenge again and thrown its hat into the ring for the World Rally-Raid Championship in singleminded pursuit of one goal: to make these words a reality.

523 Van Den Heuvel Maurik (nld), Van Rooij Martijn (nld), Van Oort Wilko (nld), Dakar Speed, International Scania Lonestar, T5 FIA Camion, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Sau © Frédéric Le Floch / DPPI

A CRUSHING BLOW
No-one had managed to loosen the Polish armada’s iron grip on the SSV race until Rodrigo Luppi de Oliveira did so today. One of the Poles, Aron Domżała, has won a stage in each of the two previous editions of the Dakar and shone on numerous occasions, but his lack of consistency sabotages all his good work. In the unforgiving world of rally raids, fortune is always a factor, and Domżała could clearly have done with some good luck today. The Can-Am crew must have broken a few mirrors on their way to km 300 of today’s stage. Domżała was vying for victory with his South Racing teammates, Austin Jones and Rodrigo Luppi de Oliveira, as well as his countryman Marek Goczał, when disaster struck in the form of a mechanical. The Pole, who had started the fourth stage in sixth place overall, 39 minutes behind Jones, was hoping to at least match his third-place finish from last year, but his dreams of standing on the podium in Jeddah have been dashed for good.

190 Almusallam Fahad (kwt), Kuwait Motorsports Club, Yamaha Raptor, Quad, W2RC, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia © Frédéric Le Floch / DPPI

STAT OF THE DAY: 4
Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) seemed destined for victory today, but the Saudi driver went a teeny-weeny bit too fast and got caught speeding, resulting in a two-minute penalty that bumped him off the podium and
promoted Nasser Al-Attiyah to the top spot in stage 4 of the 44th Dakar. Bringing his career tally to 44
triumphs, the Qatari is just 4 victories shy of pulling level with his arch-rival, Stéphane Peterhansel, as the
joint-second most prolific Dakar stage winner, behind the legendary Ari Vatanen (50). The man at the wheel of the Toyota Hilux GR DKR T1+ beat Sébastien Loeb’s Prodrive, Carlos Sainz’s Audi and Yasir Seaidan’s Mini, for 4 constructors in the top 4. One thing is for sure: with three successes under his belt, Al-Attiyah is firing on all 4 cylinders to reach Jeddah as quickly as possible. W2RC : A cornucopia of points for stage hunters As well as fighting for the Dakar title, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb are locked in a vicious battle for the world championship. The Toyota driver’s 44th stage win increased his tally to 17 points, not too far ahead of his BRX rival, who has scored 13 so far. The situation in the T3 category is a world apart. Seth Quintero is no longer in contention for the top step of the podium, but he remains hell-bent on catching and overtaking “Chaleco” in the W2RC. His third stage win was good enough for him to pull level with the Chilean with 15 points apiece. Pole Michał Goczał is also tied with Austin Jones after claiming the first stage to Riyadh. Finally, Martin Macík has seen his lead shrink, but the competition with his Big Shock Racing teammate, Kees Koolen, is a far friendlier affair.

700 Douton Marc (fra), Athimon Jérémy (fra), NPA Würth Modyf, Porsche 911 Safari Type G 1985, Dakar Classic Auto, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia © Vinícius Cabral/FOTOP

THE MAKINGS OF A CLASSIC
“Good things come in threes” could well be RumboZero’s motto. The Spaniards entered the inaugural edition of the Dakar Classic with two Mercedes G-Class. This time round, they are back in force with a third car and a new driver, Jesús Fuster Pliego, who hit the jackpot today. The Mercedes and Toyotas clashed in a spectacular show and now occupy the top 8 places in the general standings. The top 10 is composed entirely of crews who picked the low or intermediate average speeds… and has two Mercedes trucks at the top. To be fair, the contents of the skull are more important than those of the bonnet in the Dakar Classic, and Serge Mogno had co-driver Florent Drulhon’s brain to pick. The IT consultant did not take long to start cutting his way through a regularity race —not surprising for a former top-flight fencer! Neither Serge nor Florent had ever entered a regularity race before. Florent had not even taken part in a car race prior to leaving Jeddah. Beginner’s luck? Not really. As a professional with a knack for these things, he rehearsed “a bit” with his wife, taking a GPS beacon and a tablet on his knees on their daily trips. It was his way of gearing up for the Dakar on the way to the supermarket! The Euvrards are his polar opposites. Adeline is a regularity princess who has stood on all steps of the podium of the Rallye des Princesses. They are sitting in third place overall in their ML painted in the same colours as the one René Metge drove with his daughter Élodie in 2003. It used to race for Groine and its technical passport bears the name of Jean-Pierre Strugo, a Dakar legend who entered the Dakar for the 29th time since 1985 in the T1 category, at the wheel of an MD Rallye Sport Optimus! Plunging into the world of the Dakar Classic means listening to tales that echo without end!

326 Herrador Calatrava Javier (spa), Rosa Olivera José Luis (spa), Herrador Factory Team, Herrator Inzane X3, T3 FIA, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia © Florent Gooden / DPPI

QUOTE OF THE DAY
Sébastien Loeb: “Three cars within 40 seconds, this is how close it is!”
The BRX driver posted the third fastest time in the special and is happy to start tomorrow’s crucial stage right behind Nasser Al-Attiyah. “Overall, the special went without a hitch. We had to go fast while making sure not to hit a rock. We focused on the navigation and set a high pace. We ended up third, but having three cars within 40 seconds after 450 kilometres shows just how close this is. Finishing behind Nasser today to start behind him tomorrow is a good trade-off. There won’t be any bikes at the front, so the first cars will regroup, so it’s not bad at all. Tomorrow will be difficult: a big stage where things can happen. At any rate, our confidence in the car has
been restored. It was a clean special.”

319 Bell Thomas (gbr), Jacomy Bruno (arg), South Racing Middle East, Can-Am Maverick X3, T4 FIA SSV, W2RC, Motul, action during the Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh, on January 5th 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia © Frédéric Le Floch / DPPI

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