Al-Attiyah falls ill, lead shrinks in the Dakar

Autosport

An unwell Nasser Al-Attiyah’s Dakar Rally lead was trimmed by Giniel de Villiers on Saturday’s marathon stage, from which Orlando Terranova emerged with the fastest time.

In a change to the format for 2015, competitors have to do without their service crews and assistance trucks for the middle weekend, carrying only three spare tyres with them for Saturday’s 199-mile run from Iquique to Uyuni and Sunday’s follow-up 317-mile route back to Iquique, where the rest day will take place on Monday.

The punishing seventh stage took place partly at 3,500 metres above sea level, and rally leader Al-Attiyah was only seventh fastest after having to stop several times due to altitude sickness.

His pursuer de Villiers’ Imperial Toyota was only one place ahead of the WRC2 champion’s X-raid Mini in the Saturday results, but was three minutes quicker – bringing Al-Attiyah’s overall lead down to eight minutes.

While Terranova, heavily delayed by incidents in the opening days and long since out of contention, took the stage win, Yazeed Al-Rahji edged out Bernhard Ten Brinke and Krzysztof Holowczyc for second in the times, cementing Al-Rahji’s third place overall.

Peugeot’s best remaining runner Stephane Peterhansel was second fastest for much of the stage before losing time as a storm hit. He ended up eighth in Saturday’s times and is now back up to the same place overall.

LEADING STAGE SEVEN TIMES:

PosDriverTeamCarGap
1Orlando TerranovaMonster Energy Rally Raid TeamMini/BMW3h31m18.s
2Yazeed Al-RajhiYazeed RacingToyota2m20.s
3Bernhard Ten BrinkeOverdrive ToyotaToyota2m28.s
4Krzysztof HolowczycMonster Energy Rally Raid TeamMini/BMW2m57.s
5Nani RomaMonster Energy Rally Raid TeamMini/BMW4m02.s
6Giniel de VilliersToyota Imperial Team South AfricaToyota6m50.s
7Nasser Al-AttiyahQatar Rally TeamMini/BMW9m48.s
8Stephane PeterhanselTeam Peugeot TotalPeugeot10m43.s
9Robby GordonSpeed Energy RacingHST/Chevrolet10m48.s
10Vladimir VasilyevVasilyev Racing TeamMini/BMW13m32.s

LEADING OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE SEVEN:

PosDriverTeamCarGap
1Nasser Al-AttiyahQatar Rally TeamMini/BMW23h11m50.s
2Giniel de VilliersToyota Imperial Team South AfricaToyota8m14.s
3Yazeed Al-RajhiYazeed RacingToyota21m16.s
4Krzysztof HolowczycMonster Energy Rally Raid TeamMini/BMW54m02.s
5Bernhard Ten BrinkeOverdrive ToyotaToyota57m03.s
6Erik van LoonXdakarMini/BMW1h15m11.s
7Christian LavieilleOverdrive ToyotaToyota1h37m50.s
8Stephane PeterhanselTeam Peugeot TotalPeugeot1h50m36.s
9Carlos SousaMitsubishi PetrobrasMitsubishi1h58m32.s
10Ronan ChabotToys Motors – SMGSMG/GM2h10m45.s

Al-Attiyah falls ill, lead shrinks in the Dakar

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