Al-Attijah won the stage by almost 2.5 minutes, and although the 13-time winner in the overall standings, Stéphane Peterhansel, third on Tuesday, remained in the lead, gaining just 5 minutes ahead of his rival Qatari rival Toyota.
In motorcyclists, two-time champion Toby Price was the fastest in Tuesday’s stage, while in the overall, American Skyler Howes took the lead.
The Hungarian duo Balázs Szalay and László Bunkoczi finished in the 41st place on Tuesday, the pair of the Opel Dakar Team is waiting for the continuation from the last, 58th place in the complex. The trio of Károly Fazekas, Péter Albert Horn and Péter Csákány (Scania), who started at the truckers, finished 16th on Tuesday, and in the composite they are in the 14th position. Competing with the French navigator and mechanic, Zsolt Darázsi (MAN) finished the third stage in 32nd place, so he will continue the race from the 34th position of the truck field on Wednesday.
“It was a varied day with beautiful rows of dunes and rock-hard trial sections - I couldn’t believe we were getting up to them. We went full throttle in some gears, Opel almost scratched the stones out of itself, ”said Balázs Szalay. "I got a lot of yarn on the dunes after that, we were ahead of a lot of cars, there were people who dug, others had technical problems, still others overturned."
“We were in a pretty good place when we got a puncture after the checkpoint and then it turned out that our electric lift was not working. So it took ten minutes to change wheels, and then five kilometers later, another ten minutes later. From then on, we drove a little more restrainedly, because we didn’t have any more spare wheels, but by the end we got together pretty well again. Laci navigated very well, we only had to turn around once or twice and look for the trail, and in the end we helped one of the buggy, which ran out of gas eight miles before the finish. We pushed it to the finish line so that your race would not depend on that. ”
Section 3, Vadi ad-Davasir - Vadi ad-Davasir, 630 km (403 km speed), motorists:
1. Nasser al-Attijah, Mathieu Baumel (Qatar, French, Toyota) 3:17:39
2. Henk Lategan, Brett Cummings (South Africa, Toyota) 2:27 min disadvantage
3. Stéphane Peterhansel, Edouard Boulanger (French, Mini) 4:05 p h.
… 41. Balázs Szalay, László Bunkoczi (Opel Dakar Team) 1:22:14 h.
the complex position:
1. Peterhansel, Boulanger 10:39:02
2. al-Attijah, Baumel 5: 9 min disadvantage
3. Mathieu Serradori, Fabian Lurquin (Belgian, French, Century) 26:21 p h.
… 58. Szalay, Bunkoczi 23:24:34 hours h.
motorcyclists:
1. Toby Price (Australia, KTM) 3:33:23 p.m.
2. Kevin Benavides (Argentine, Honda) 1:16 min disadvantage
3. Matthias Walkner (Austrian, KTM) 2:36 p h.
the complex position:
1. Skyler Howes (American, KTM) 12:04:48
2. Benavides 33 second handicap
3. Xavier de Soultrait (French, Husqvarna) 1:28 min h.
On Wednesday, an 813-kilometer road from Vadi ad-Davasir to Riyadh awaits the riders, with the measured section going to be 337 kilometers.
