Dakar 2020, Stage 4: Peterhansel fastest, Sainz’s lead halved

Stephane Peterhansel became the fourth different driver to top a stage in the 2020 Dakar Rally, as Nasser Al-Attiyah halved the gap to leader Carlos Sainz.

Wednesday’s Neom – Al-‘Ula stage included the marathon’s longest timed test so far at 453km, which was split by an 80km neutralised zone and was completed by Peterhansel in just over four hours.

The 13-time Dakar champion was sixth in the starting order, but his X-raid Mini buggy was the third car to arrive at the finish line and had clocked the fastest time at all but the first waypoint.

Squadmate Sainz looked on course to minimise the damage from having to open the road, but gave up over four minutes in the final 100 kilometres of the test.

This means Toyota driver Al-Attiyah, who had entered the day as Sainz’s closest rival and was a close second to Peterhansel through the stage, now trails the marathon leader by just three minutes.

Al-Attiyah had received a three-minute penalty after Tuesday’s stage as he was adjudged to have impeded Sainz.

The Wednesday stage win has elevated Peterhansel to third place overall behind his two fellow Dakar champions, with his gains coming at the expense of Mini driver Orlando Terranova and Toyota’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi.

Al-Rajhi had been fastest at the opening waypoint but ended the stage 11m30s off Peterhansel’s pace.

Yet this was enough for host country Saudi Arabia’s leading representative Al-Rajhi to overhaul Terranova by three seconds in the general classification.

Dakar 2020’s surprise package Mathieu Serradori continued to keep the pace in his Century buggy, finishing fifth on the day and retaining sixth place overall.

He outpaced Al-Attiyah’s Toyota Gazoo squadmates Giniel de Villiers and Bernhard ten Brinke, who make up the top eight in the standings.

Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, who had entered the day 32nd overall after lengthy damage repairs on Monday, was 26 minutes off the pace in his Toyota.

Elsewhere, there was a roll for fellow Toyota driver Erik van Loon and a lengthy stoppage for two-time champion Nani Roma, contesting his first Dakar with German marque Borgrward.

General classification (top 10):

Pos.#Driver / Co-driverCarTimeGap
1305

Carlos Sainz

Lucas Cruz

Mini15h12m12s 
2300

Nasser Al-Attiyah

Mathieu Baumel

Toyota15h15m15s3m3s
3302 Stephane Peterhansel
Paulo Fiuza
Mini15h23m54s11m42s
4309

Yazeed Al-Rajhi

Konstantin Zhiltsov

Toyota15h35m22s23m10s
5311

Orlando Terranova

Bernardo Graue

Mini15h35m25s23m13s
6315

Mathieu Serradori

Fabian Lurquin

Century15h39m7s26m55s
7304

Giniel de Villiers

Alex Haro

Toyota15h46m52s34m40s
8307

Bernhard ten Brinke

Tom Colsoul

Toyota15h56m52s44m40s
9306

Martin Prokop

Viktor Chytka

Ford16h21m53s1h9m41s
10324

Yasir Seaidan

Alexy Kuzmich

Mini16h42m37s1h30m25s

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