Dakar Stage 7: Al-Rajhi claims first home win, Brabec wins in Bikes

It’s in the bag for Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Shown Above)! The Saudi ended a long drought that started in 2015 and claimed the stage win after moving into the lead with about 100 kilometers to go. The Toyota driver wrapped up the seventh special with 48′ to spare over Stéphane Peterhansel, 1’15’ over Carlos Sainz in third place and 2’48’ over Nasser Al-Attiyah.

After peaking at six minutes, Stéphane Peterhansel’s advantage over Nasser Al-Attiyah went down to two minutes at the finish. The Qatari is now second overall, almost eight minutes behind the Frenchman. It was a good day for ‘Monsieur Dakar’, who claimed his sixth podium finish in seven stages!

Bikes

The winner of the prologue, American Ricky Brabec, had not finished on the podium since his second place in stage 2, but the defending champion struck back today by beating Ignacio Cornejo by 2’07’ and Skyler Howes by 2’19’. Sam Sunderland came in fourth place, just under three minutes down.

Ricky Brabec

A single second separates Nacho Cornejo and Toby Price at the end of stage 7. Sam Sunderland put in a strong finish to come in third at 2’11’ and Xavier De Soultrait finished 2’34’ back. Just over 2’30’ separated the top 4 men. The second week looks very promising!

Quads

Argentina’s Manuel Andújar crossed the finish line first to easily take his second stage win of the year after leading the special from A to Z.s

Nicolás Cavigliasso’s clutch broke down with less than 100 km to go. The Argentinian sought aid from another competitor before signalling his intent to withdraw. A massive disappointment for the 2019 champion, who started today’s stage in the overall lead!

Trucks

Dmitry Sotnikov posted the fastest time in today’s special to claim his fifth stage win this year by 3’23’ over teammate Ayrat Mardeev. Anton Shibalov lost ground again after finishing 8’22’ back.

Stage 7 Results (Top-10)

Cars

Pos No. Driver/Nat. Brand Behind
1 303 Y. Al Rajhi SAU Overdrive Toyota 00:00:00
2 302 S. Peterhansel FRA X-Raid Mini Jcw Team 00:00:48
3 300 C. Sainz ESP X-Raid Mini Jcw Team 00:01:15
4 301 N. Al-Attiyah GAT Toyota Gazoo Racing 00:02:48
5 307 J. Przygonski POL Orlen Team/Overdrive 00:12:00
6 314 C. Despres FRA Abu Dhabi Racing 00:17:06
7 311 N. Roma ESP Bahrain Raid Xtreme 00:22:53
317 V. Vasilyev RUS X-Raid Team
305 S. Loeb FRA Bahrain Raid Xtreme
310 Sk. Al Qassimi ARE Abu Dhabi Racing

Bikes

Pos No. Rider/Nat. Make Behind
1 1 R. Brabec USA Monster Energy Honda Team 2021 00:00:00
2 4 Ji. Cornejo Florimo CHL Monster Energy Honda Team 2021 00:02:07
3 9 S. Howes USA Bas Dakar Ktm Racing Team 00:02:19
4 5 S. Sunderland GBR Red Bull Ktm Factory Team 00:02:52
5 21 D. Sanders AUS Ktm Factory Team 00:03:14
6 12 X. De Soultrait FRA Ht Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing 00:03:57
7 3 T. Price AUS Red Bull Ktm Factory Team 00:05:05
8 77 L. Benavides ARG Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing 00:05:49
9 27 J. Rodrigues PRT Hero Motosports Team Rally 00:05:55
10 06 F. Caimi ARG Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team 00:06:46

Quads

Pos No. Driver/Nat Brand Behind
1 154 M. Andujar arg 7240 Team 00:00:00
2 168 I. Pedemonte chl Enrico Racing Team 00:03:05
3 152 A. Giroud fra Team Giroud 00:08:51
4 159 G. Enrico chl Enrico Racing Team 00:08:54
5 163 P. Copetti usa Mx Devesa By Berta 00:2:03
6 157 R. Dutu fra Smx Racing 00:34:04
7 155 K. Wisniewski pol Orlen Team 01:14:47
8 153 T. Kubiena cze Story Racing S.R.O. 01:39:12
9 176 L. Kancius ltu Story Racing S.R.O. 01:53:25
10 177 S. Martinez bol Team Can Am Martinez 02:05:05

Trucks

Pos No. Driver/Nat Brand Behind
1 507 D. Sotnikov rus Kamaz – Master 00:00:00
2 509 A. Mardeev rus Kamaz – Master 00:03:23
3 501 A. Shibalov rus Kamaz – Master 00:08:22
4 505 A. Vishneuski blr Maz-Sportauto 00:10:29
5 500 A. Karginov rus Kamaz – Master 00:11:44
6 504 A. Loprais cze Instaforex Loprais Praga 00:14:47
7 506 M. Van Den Brink nld Mammoet Rallysport 00:20:06
8 514 M. Soltys cze Tatra Buggyra Racing 00:25:54
9 517 I. Casale chl Tatra Buggyra Racing 00:26:13
10 503 M. Macik cze Big Shock Racing 00:39:28.