Iquique, Chile - Dakar Rally rookie Yazeed Al-Rajhi claimed a maiden stage win in the spectacular sand dune finish in Iquique on Sunday to break Mini's stranglehold on this year's race
As the Dakar rookie - who drives a new-generation Toyota Hilux bakkie built at the Toyota Motorsport workshop near Kyalami in Midrand - celebrated his landmark day on the world's toughest rally, his Qatari rival Nasser Al-Attiyah did enough in his Mini in third to consolidate his position at the top of the driver standings.
The 2011 Dakar winner even gained a few seconds on his closest pursuer, South Africa's Giniel de Villiers in the works Toyota Hilux, who finished fourth.
The second day of the so-called marathon stage (that’s two stages back-to-back without service assistance) saw De Villiers come in just 2min49s off the winner, and 13 seconds behind overall leader Al-Attiyah, putting him in a solid second place overall after eight stages, 8m27s behind Al-Attiyah.
"Today's stage was quite a test," said De Villiers after descending the monster dune behind the bivouac at Iquique.
"We started at an altitude of more than 4500 metres on the Salar de Uyuni, and had a 130km section where we drove absolutely flat out."
De Villiers led for most of the 510km stage but an incident with one of the official TV helicopters saw him hit a rock in the choking fesh-fesh dust kicked up by the chopper helicopter. The resulting puncture cost him three minutes, as well as the stage win and valuable gains made over Al-Attiyah before the incident.
Team principal Glyn Hall lodged a protest with the stewards immediately after the stage.
"They deliberated for hours,” he said. “but in the end they decided to reject our appeal to have the time lost due to their chopper returned to us. It is very disappointing to lose time in a situation that was clearly not of our doing - but that's the way it is and at least we are still in the fight for the win."
Up to this win for Toyota, each stage had ended up being claimed by one of the Minis.
Sunday's 808km run, with 784km timed, took Al-Rajhi and the rest of the car competitors from Bolivia's salt flats in Uyuni to the vertiginous dunes of the Chilean Pacific coastal city of Iquique.
He covered the route in three hours, 26 minutes and 49 seconds, with Saturday's stage winner Orlando Terranova in second in his Mini, more than a minute behind.
ALTITUDE SICKNESS
Al-Attiyah, a further two-and-a-half minutes back in third, had an almost eight-and-a-half minute lead over De Villiers, who lost precious time in the final dunes in the approach to Iquique, in the race for the drivers crown.
But the Qatari was happy just to get through the weekend.
“Driving in Bolivia was a treat. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the altitude. Yesterday's stage was very tough. I vomited three times and my co-driver Matthieu Baumel asked me to stop,” he explained.
“But no, I didn't want to lose any time. I wasn't able to eat anything yesterday, I only had a soup and a cup of green tea. I also had oxygen for thirty minutes before going to sleep. Fortunately, I felt much better today.
“I'm happy to stay in the lead. We lost a wheel at the end of the first part of the special and lost a few minutes changing it. However, I attacked in the second half, overtook four cars and made up the lost time.”
Al-Rajhi, who remained in contention for the drivers' crown in third, 18min 40sec behind, said: “Today was a good day.”
The 33-year-old Dakar debutant added: “We drove fast and we had fun.
“The most difficult part was organising toilet stops! At such altitudes, just a sip of water makes you want to go... The in-line start in Salar was great and carried out under good conditions.
“We didn't have the highest top speed, but we managed to catch up with the others. It was a bit like a game.”
Terranova described the marathon stage as “an awesome experience”.
For Leeroy Poulter in the second factory Toyota Hilux, it has been a race of emotional highs and lows. He has been extremely fast at times, but time lost on Stage 6 after he missed a waypoint effectively dropped him down to 17th overall and out of the running for overall victory.
"We will keep pushing hard,” said Poulter after Stage 8. “If there's one thing we've learnt from our first Dakar last year, it is that you have to be patient in this race. "All we can do now is to keep going as hard as we can, without damaging the car.
Nissan Navara driver Johan van Staden had a tough day, finishing 41st on the marathon stage and dropping three places overall to 33rd.
Monday was the final rest day for the car drivers ahead of Saturday's finish in Buenos Aires.
MOTORCYCLES
After Saturday's day off for motorcyclists the 717km (321km timed) seventh stage which took the two-wheeled competitors from Iquique to Uyuni was won by Honda's Paulo Goncalves.
The Portuguese rider was third in the overall motorcycle standings, 11 minutes behind his Spanish team-mate Joan Barreda Bort, with the pair separated by KTM's defending champion Marc Coma.
Gonzalves' stage win, just 14 seconds ahead of Coma, moved him up to within 10 minutes of race leader Barreda Bort, who crashed on the stage, breaking his handlebar. He rode for 120km with one hand and conceded six minutes of his 12-minute lead over Coma.
Matthias Walkner had another great day finishing in third just a few seconds behind Coma; fourth was Quantanilla and then Toby Price.
Top South African rider Riaan van Niekerk, had his best day so far on the 2015 Dakar, finishing eighth and moving up to 12th in the overall rankings. Fellow KTM rider Albert Hintenaus, however, battled home 66th - and still made up three places overall, moving up to 56th.
Sadly, South African privateer Wessel Bosman was unable to complete Stage 6 and was forced to withdraw.
AFP