Lucas Moraes was the fastest in the third stage of the Dakar in cars. There were 438km timed between Al Duwadimi and Al Salamiya, of which Yazeed Al Rajhi emerged as the new leader in the overall classification.
Until KP135, Moraes (Toyota) was outside the top five in the intermediate time tables, but from there on he recovered a lot of ground and ended up in an exciting battle for victory with Mattias Ekström. He beat the Audi rival by just nine seconds. Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing/Toyota) finished third, 1m09s behind.
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Nasser Racing) suffered three punctures in the Hunter and had to finish the special stage with three wheels, but still finished fourth, 1m33s off the top, followed by Romain Dumas (Rebellion Racing/Hunter). Yesterday’s stage winner, Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi), could only manage seventh after the task of opening the road.
In the overall classification, Al Rajhi is the new leader, with just 29 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz (Audi). Ekström is in third, 8m29s behind, with Moraes now in fourth, 9m17s behind. Al-Attiyah completes the top five ahead of Peterhansel.
Top ten of Stage 3:
Top ten overall:
