DĀR car driver Variava becomes the youngest winner of the Dakar rally stage /

by times news cr

Variava (“Toyota Gazoo”) covered 327 kilometers of speed stages in three hours, 16 minutes and 52 seconds. The winner was born on July 1, 2005.

He was 33 seconds ahead of the Frenchman Guerlain Chichery (“X-raid Mini”) and one minute and 48 seconds ahead of his American teammate Seth Quintero.

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Dacia Sandriders) experienced technical problems in the second stage in a row, and his chances of winning the rally raid for the first time have become slim.

The nine-time world rally champion went off the road already in the 12th kilometer of the stage, the “Dacia” he was driving threw several somersaults and severely damaged the car.

The 50-year-old Frenchman and his Belgian co-driver Fabien Lurkans were able to continue the race after five minutes of repairs, but continued to struggle with technical difficulties throughout the rest of the stage.

Loeb, who has finished second in the Dakar rally raid three times, was 33 minutes and 32 seconds behind the winner of the stage, occupying the 44th place.

“We were able to continue the race, but suddenly the steering rod broke, I think from a rollover,” Loeb said at the finish.

“Then we had a problem with the engine overheating. We tried to finish the stage. We did it, but we lost an hour,” added Loeb, who had also experienced fan problems with the engine overheating in the two-day second stage.

Another DĀR pilot, Hanks Leitgans (Toyota Gazoo), maintained his lead in the overall standings, finishing in 12th place on Tuesday, seven minutes and 31 seconds behind Variava.

He is seven minutes and 17 seconds ahead of the five-time champion of this competition Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah (“Dacia Sandriders”) and nine minutes and 34 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Matias Ekström (“Ford M-Sport”).

Variava takes the 85th place, seven hours 47 minutes and 11 seconds behind Leitgan.

Loeb takes 16th place, Leitgan losing one hour, 14 minutes and 45 seconds.

It has already been reported that there will be a new champion in the passenger car class, as the current champion Spaniard Carlos Sainz Sr. (Ford) retired on Monday.

The Spanish Lorenzo Santolino (“Sherco”) won the motorcycle class, finishing in three hours, 44 minutes and 34 seconds. Driving in the Dakar Rally for the seventh time, it is his first stage victory.

Last year’s overall winner American Ricky Brabek (Monster Energy Honda) finished second, losing four minutes and one second to the winner, and third was his teammate and compatriot Skyler House, who spent nine seconds longer in the distance.

Australian Daniel Sanders (“Red Bull KTM”) is still in the lead in the overall standings, who is one minute and 57 seconds ahead of House and two minutes and five seconds ahead of Ross Branch (“Hero”) from Botswana.

Due to the rainy weather forecast, the pilots covered 327 kilometers instead of the 496 kilometers expected on Tuesday.

The “Dakar” rally raid will take place for the 47th time. Last year, the Spanish Carlos Sainz senior won the car class, but the American Ricky Brabek was unbeaten in the motorcycle class.

Rally Raid took place in Africa 29 times from 1979 to 2007. In 2008, it was canceled due to security reasons, but the following year it debuted in South America.

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