South Africans are the darlings of the Dakar Rally as Saood Variawa won the third stage from Bisha to Al Henakiyah on Tuesday, becoming the youngest driver in the Ultimate class to do so in the history of the event at just 19 years old. Compatriot and Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Henk Lategan retains the overall lead, finishing 12th.
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The 22-year-old American Seth Quintero held the record for just two days when he won stage one, until Variawa and co-driver François Cazalet blasted to the stage three bivouac 33 seconds ahead of Frenchman Guerlain. Quintero still holds the record for most stage wins in a single Dakar Rally at 12 out of 13 in total, set during the 2022 running of the event when he was still in the SSV category.
“I definitely knew we were flying. There were a lot of places which could catch you out and end your race. We really took it quite easy in the stuff that was very tricky. François was good with the navigation and we were on point everywhere. We got through a lot of the crowd and put a lot of other competitors under pressure in the rocks. They had punctures so it cleared some out of the way for us. Towards the end, in the last five kilometres, we hit a big rock and got a puncture, but nonetheless it was a really good drive on our side, Variawa said.
Quintero rounded out the top three in his own Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux, 75 seconds off the X-Raid Mini of Chicherit. Behind Quintero came the X-Raid Minis of Belgian Guillaume de Mevius and Portuguese Joao Ferreira.
Sixth fastest for the day was Nasser Al-Attiyah, who safely brought his Dacia Sandrider home as teammate Sébastien Loeb rolled his own Dacia early after the start of the stage and continued to suffer from technical issues until the finish.
“I’ve just heard that Sébastien Loeb rolled his car. I hope he’s ok and can continue, because we need to finish with all three cars on the podium, it’s very important for Dacia. I will try to do my best to win this race. For the moment, everything is fine and I’m happy. It’s not easy, but it’s not about to open up. When we caught all the Toyotas, nobody wanted to open for us,” Al-Attiyah said.
For Wednesday’s fourth stage, Dakar competitors can brace themselves for the volcanic terrain and canyons for which the area around Alula is famous. After a 173 km liaison, competitors sprint all the way for 415 km.
Overall rankings
- Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 19h 04m 53s
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders) 19h 12m 10s
- Mattias Ekström (Ford M-Sport) 19h 14m 27s
- Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) 19h 16m 38s
- Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 19h 24m 33s
- Toby Price (Overdrive Racing) 19h 25m 10s
- Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Factory Team) 19h 26m 08s
- Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) 19h 28m 33s
- Joao Ferreira (X-Raid Mini JCW Team) 19h 37m 00s
- Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 19h 39m 57s
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