Sainz conquers the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally and cuts the gap
The Madrid driver has demonstrated his quality in the dunes. Despite finishing the stage in the lead with a time of 3 hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds, the difference is still 40 minutes and 39 seconds from the lead in the general classification.
After two days dragging out navigation errors and punctures, the three-time champion has shown his best version to impose himself with authority. Although the Frenchman Peterhansel, who remains the leader, and the Qatari Al Attiyah, who still has just over 35 minutes in the general classification, have resisted the attack. Sainz has cut them back by 7:34 and 7:16 respectively.
Despite the significant difference, the three remain the favourites to take the title. The fourth place in the general ranking is occupied by the Polish driver Kuba Przygonski, more than an hour away from the Spanish driver, who is the third in the discord.
Nani Roma is improving stage by stage. After his great participation last day, today he gave a great stage performance occupying the seventh position and getting closer to the top 3. The Spaniard is now fifth overall, one hour and 36 minutes behind Peterhansel.
It has also been a good day for the Spanish motorcyclists, as the Castilian rider Joan Barreda has won the sixth race between Al-Qaisumah and Ha'il over 347 kilometres.
Barreda overtook Ross Branch and Daniel Sanders in the special stage, and recovered almost 4 minutes from the new leader Toby Price, who overtook Kevin Benavides (Honda).
The Spaniard is in seventh position in the general classification, just 6:25 minutes behind Toby Price who is the new leader with a 2:16 margin over Kevin Benavides. The Argentinean has lost the lead after being seventeenth with almost 10 minutes lost in this sixth race, and 2:57 over Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo.
The driver Lorenzo Santolino was the second fastest Spanish driver, crossing the finish line in eighteenth position at 11:52 from Barreda, although he has lost positions in the general classification where he is in ninth place at 13:46 from Price.
Ricky Brabec, the reigning champion of the category, was leading an intense head-to-head with Barreda in the stage, however, he had a navigation error near the end of the stage and gave up more than 3 minutes to the Spaniard in the last kilometre. The American driver finally crossed the finish line at 2:24 in Barreda's case, although he was still 20 minutes behind the leader in the provisional general classification.
After today's stage the riders will enjoy a day of rest this Saturday. The break comes before facing the second part of the Dakar that is causing so many complications for many drivers due to the difficult navigation. In fact, the sixth stage was reduced by 101 kilometres, with a 12-kilometre shortcut between kilometre points 238 and 351 of the initial route, until it was left at 347 kilometres after the harshness of the fifth day of competition.