American Seth Quintero on Saturday led the two-week Dakar Rally as race favorites in the car category slowed to secure better conditions for yesterday’s 48-hour Chrono stage in the Saudi Arabian desert.
French Mini driver Guerlain Chicherit was fastest in the 413km first stage around the southwestern town of Bisha, but Toyota’s Quintero, who finished 50 seconds behind, was promoted hours later after he was credited 95 seconds to make up for time lost when he stopped to assist Spaniard Laia Sanz, who had crashed.
Defending champion Carlos Sainz went against the flow by moving up to seventh, but five-time winner Nasser al-Attiyah dropped to 20th, nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb was 24th and local contender Yazeed al-Rajhi ended the day 21st.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Setting off first through the sea of dunes and over rough and rocky desert tracks is a disadvantage for a driver compared with those who follow.
“The goal was not to do the best time, so we decided to stop for a few minutes at the end to lose a bit of time and not to be first on the road tomorrow,” Frenchman Loeb said. “Everyone played the same game.”
Fellow Dacia driver al-Attiyah agreed that tactics had played a big part in the day’s classification, adding that he had taken the stage easy, stopping for 15 minutes after a puncture to secure a more favorable position for the next stage.
“Maybe we lose a lot of time ... but it’s very important for tomorrow. If I start 50th, that would be nice,” the Qatari said. “Last year, we took a risk, but we learned. We don’t need to learn this year, we need to be smart, and I’m really quite happy to manage today without any problems.”
Chicherit also stopped when a small fire broke out around the exhaust, but he decided to adopt a different strategy to rivals.
“I predicted that all the top guns would follow the same strategy, so I asked myself: ‘Should I stay with the herd in a low-risk, low-reward approach, or should I do the exact opposite?’” he said. “Winning tomorrow is virtually impossible. I need to limit the damage to 15 minutes or less. If I can pull it off, I’ll still be within five minutes of the rest.”
In the motorcycle category, prologue winner Daniel Sanders made it two out of two and the Australian is now more than two minutes clear of defending champion Ricky Brabec of the US.
Hero rider Sebastian Buehler’s rally ended after the German crashed and injured his shoulder.
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
DEADLINE DAY: Rennes’ Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off the move due to the Blues’ bloated squad Liverpool on Monday won the race to sign Stade Rennais defender Jeremy Jacquet on the quiet final day of the English Premier League transfer window, while Crystal Palace swooped for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen despite the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan. The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to ￡60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off
RSS