Rally Raid
Second win for Peterhansel and overall lead for Sainz on Stage 6 of Dakar
Carlos Sainz heads into the rest day of the 2020 Dakar Rally leading the Car category, while Ricky Brabec extends his Bike lead as rival Toby Price struggles.
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There was more excitement and thrilling battles across all five classes as the Dakar Rally competitors completed Stage 6 and headed into a well earned rest day in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
The change of scenery on Stage 6 was dramatic, even by the standards of the route so far. Friday's stage was 100 percent sand and entirely off-piste, with a relatively fast first section and a latter phase full of dunes, where navigation proved just as key as outright speed.
With all the crews looking to end the first phase of the rally pushing for top positions, or simply and get to Riyadh in one piece, there was action wherever you looked. Check out how the first half of the 2020 Dakar Rally came to a close and who the winners and losers were heading into the weekend.
Bike leader Ricky Brabec untouchable on Stage 6
KTM's Matthias Walkner finished third on Stage 6
© Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool
There was drama all the way in the Bike category. With KTM's Sam Sunderland fracturing five vertebrae and a shoulder blade following a heavy crash on Stage 5, it was left for Honda's Ricky Brabec to extend his lead in the overall classification with a second stage victory of the rally, as nearest challenger Toby Price struggled in the sand.
Early on in the day, around 100km into the Hail to Riyadh stage, third place man in the overall standings, Kevin Benavides, was making good progress, along with overall standings leader Brabec, Jose Ignacio Cornejo and Joan Barreda, making the early stages of Stage 6 an all Honda affair.
Stage 5 winner Price was tasked with opening the stage on his Red Bull KTM and found the going tough in the sand. The second placed rider was 3m 35s behind Benavides after 165km and at the 213km mark it looked as though Price's hopes to take the fight to race leader Brabec were fading, as the Australian dropped 4m 36s back in third.
By the 265km mark, Brabec was showing why he led the Dakar Rally after six days of tough competition and the LCR Honda rider extended his advantage over Benavides to one minute, with Matthias Walkner taking over third from KTM team-mate Price, who lost six minutes. Things then went from bad to worse for Price, who stopped completely a few kilometres later.
There was more drama nearing the finish line in Riyadh, as Benavides also stopped in the stage. The Argentinian, who started the stage in third place overall, was just 25 seconds behind leader Brabec, but lost considerable time and damaged his hopes for the overall lead.
Brabec scorched to the stage win and heads into Saturday's rest day with his second stage of the race so far, finishing 1m 34s in front of Barreda, with Walkner in third for KTM. Walkner's team-mate and defending champion Price finished 16 minutes behind the stage winner and dropped to third in the overall standings, behind Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla.
Dakar Rally 2020 Bike standings (after Stage 6)
- Ricky Brabec (USA) 23h 43m 47s
- Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) +20m 56s
- Toby Price (AUS) +25m 39s
- Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHI) +25m 41s
- Joan Barreda (ESP) +32m 58s
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Stéphane Peterhansel makes it two wins so far
Stéphane Peterhansel en route to winning Stage 6 of the Dakar Rally
© Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool
The final day of Car competition before the rest day saw the three-way battle between Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel and Nasser Al-Attiyah for the overall rally lead really cburst into life. After a thrilling stage-long scrap, MINI's Peterhansel won the day, ahead of overall leader and team-mate Sainz.
After 100km of the stage, it was Stage 4 winner Peterhansel who started as he meant to go on, ahead of Al-Attiyah, Yazeed Al Rajhi and overall leader Sainz, and while the MINIs of Sainz and Peterhansel were challenging, the same couldn’t be said for Dakar veteran Jakub Przygoński. Hecontinued to suffer mechanical gremlins, and lost 1.5hrs
Sainz made his move after 213km and took the lead, putting himself just two seconds ahead of Peterhansel and 20 in front of 2019 champion Al-Attiyah. Toyota's Al Rajhi continued his impressive Dakar Rally on home sand, keeping in touch with the leading trio in fourth place, a couple of minutes behind.
At the 256km mark, Peterhansel pushed back ahead in his search for a second stage win of 2020 and overhauled Sainz to pull out a 22-second lead, with Al-Attiyah keeping watch in third, 52 seconds back in third. Meanwhile, double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso just four minutes behind the stage leaders in fourth.
With 50km left to run on Stage 6, Peterhansel's lead over Sainz was just one minute, with Al-Attiyah appearing to struggle to keep pace with the leading duo, falling almost three minutes adrift in his Toyota.
At the end of Stage 6, it was Peterhansel who triumphed to head home a MINI 1–2, with Sainz extending his overall lead in the standings by over two minutes whilst Peterhansel consolidated third place. Al-Attiyah splits the MINI team-mates in the overall positions and just 16 minutes covers the top three heading into the rest day.
Dakar Rally 2020 Car standings (after Stage 6)
- Carlos Sainz (ESP) 23h 33m 05s
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) +7m 46s
- Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) +16m 18s
- Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) +36m 46s
- Orlando Terranova (ARG) +32m 5s
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López takes over SSV lead as Kariakiin suffers
Russia's Sergei Kariakin started Stage 6 in the overall lead of the SSV category with a lead of just over one minute, but as the teams head into the weekend it's Chaleco López at the top of the standings, after Kariakin struggled home in 14th.
After a first Dakar win on Stage 4 for Red Bull Off-Road Team USA's Mitch Guthrie Jr was followed by a disappointing Stage 5, things were looking up once again on Friday for the young American, who led the SSV class after 165km. He held an advantage of 2m 38s over López, with overall leader Kariakin struggling and almost nine minutes off the pace.
López hit the 265km mark in the lead however by one minute over Stage 5 winner Cyril Despres, followed by Casey Currie, with Kariakin 18 minutes behind López, who started the stage in third place overall and just under two minutes adrift of the overall leader.
After 371km, Gerard Farrés, who finished second in 2019 and won the third stage this year, found himself in the lead, 1m 10s ahead López and 3m 39s in front of Despres, and Farrés hung on to win his second stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally, beating the overall leader López. With a late move, Reinaldo Varela finished in third place, five minutes behind the stage winner, and moved up to second overall.
Dakar Rally 2020 SSV standings (after Stage 6)
- Francisco López (CHI) 28h 52m 26s
- Casey Currie (USA) +9m 48s
- Sergei Kariakin (RUS) +30m 24s
- Jose Antonio Hinojo Lopez (ESP) +36m 31s
- Mitch Guthrie Jr (USA) +47m 49s
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Delight for Quad leader Casale, but despair for Enrico
Ignacio Casale extended his Quads lead on Stage 6
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Chilean Quad class leader Ignacio Casale started Stage 6 with over 30 minutes advantage on compatriot Giovanni Enrico,who succumbed to mechanical problems as Simon Vitse won his first stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally.
The early stages saw a French 1–2–3 at the front, as third place man Vitse led Alexandre Giroud and Stage 5 winner Romain Dutu by only 15 seconds. Further back there was drama, as dominant overall leader Casale lost five minutes following a freak collision with Bike racer Charlie Herbst.
The Gallic trio was soon reduced to one, as Vitse held on to the lead at the 165km mark and was followed by a new second place man in the shape of Enrico, with Giroud dropping back almost eight minutes and Dutu, racing in the Dakar Experience format, crashing out and requiring treatment for an injury.
In the battle for the overall Quad lead, Casale managed to recover from his incident with Herbst and trailed Vitse by four minutes after 213km, as overall second place rider Enrico had to stop with mechanical trouble, ending his hopes of a Dakar Rally podium
Vitse ended the stage with his first win of the rally, comfortably ahead of Casale, who heads into the rest day just 35 seconds ahead of Vitse. The French rider can take his day off with a smile on his face, as he's now second in the standings following the withdrawal of Enrico.
Dakar Rally 2020 Quad standings (after Stage 6)
- Ignacio Casale (CHI) 30h 11m 37s
- Simon Vitse (FRA) +35m 12s
- Rafał Sonik (POL) +1h 7m 17s
- Alexandre Giroud (FRA) +1h 53m 51s
- Manual Andujar (ARG) +2h 54m 58s
Andrey Karginov extends lead in the Truck battle
Anton Shibalov finished second on Friday's Stage 6
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
The big news in the Truck category was the exit of reigning Dakar champion Eduard Nikolaev, while his KAMAZ team-mate Andrey Karginov extended his lead in the overall standings
Nikolaev had a nightmare day on Thursday in which he finally finished the stage on Friday morning at 6:30am, following major technical problems with his KAMAZ. He bravely started today's stage pretty much straight after finishing Stage 5, but a new mechanical problem after only 33km put paid to a Dakar Rally to forget for the champion.
In contrast, overall standings leader Karginov managed to establish a 1m 19s lead over KAMAZ team-mate Anton Shibalov and the pair engaged in a stage-long game of cat and mouse, with early rally leader Siarhei Viazovich almost four minutes off the lead.
Karginov completed his second stage victory of the race, allowing him to take Saturday's rest day with an overall lead of over 19 minutes and a certain amount of confidence. The Russian won Stage 6 in Riyadh by 4m 21s ahead of Shibalov, with Viazovich in fourth.
Dakar Rally 2020 Truck standings (after Stage 6)
- Andrey Karginov (RUS) 25h 6m 20s
- Anton Shibalov (RUS) +19m 14s
- Siarhei Viazovich (BLR) +36m 30s
- Ales Loprais (CZE) +1h 51m 13s
- Martin Macik (CZE) +1h 59m 27s
Quote of the day
"The stage today was going really good. We were navigating well and were only losing a little bit of time on the guys who were starting behind. Unfortunately, around the 400km mark my rear tyre fell off. I don't know why it happened. Everyone else on our team ran the same tyre and they've all made the finish line." – Toby Price
Andrew Short gave me his wheel, so I didn't have to ride in on the rim. It wasn't the best day, but that's how it goes sometimes.
Stage 7 preview: Riyadh – Wadi Al Dawasir
Following Saturday's rest day, an early start beckons on Sunday, as the rally gets back underway with a monstrous 546km special stage that takes the convoy to Wadi Al-Dawasir.
This is the longest stage of this year's Dakar Rally and also one of the most varied. Dunes are scattered along the entire route and the drivers will have to cross small dune fields of a few kilometres, tackle climbing portions and off-road alternates, with sectors featuring numerous crossings where the navigators will have to be on their toes.
Catch the action from Saudi Arabia with Red Bull TV's Daily Dakar show:
21 min
Dakar Daily – Stage 6
Catch up with all the off-road action and highlights from the sixth stage of Dakar Rally 2020 in Saudi Arabia.
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