In an absolute nail biter of a stage at the 2021 Dakar Rally, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Toyota Gazoo Racing has taken the win after being behind Stephane Peterhansel for a major portion of the stage. Team X-Raid Mini JCW’s Stephane Peterhansel had to settle for P2, 1:56 minutes slower than Nasser after the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver went on the offensive and won the stage. X-Raid Mini JCW teammate Carlos Sainz finished the stage in P3
Yazeed Al Rajhi of the Overdrive Toyota team started the stage first today, owing to his victory yesterday but was unable to keep the pace up and finished the stage in P4 04:02 minutes slower than Al-Attiyah. Nani Roma of team BRX had a rather uneventful drive and finished 27:28 minutes behind the stage winner. Dakar officials shortened today’s stage by 50km for bad weather in a certain stretch of the stage.
General Rankings after Stage 11
As has been the case for the last few stages, the top-five in general rankings remain. Stephane Peterhansel is in P1 while Nasser Al-Attiyah, his closest rival is in P2, 15:05 minutes behind him. So, unless something goes very wrong for Peterhansel in the final stage tomorrow, the 2021 Dakar Rally Title is pretty much his. Carlos Sainz remains in P3. Jakub Przygonski of the Orlen Team/Overdrive holds on to P4 while Team BRX’s Nani Roma retains P5.
Tomorrows stage marks the final stage for the 2021 Dakar. The competitors will traverse from Yanbu back to Jeddah where the first stage was kicked off. The total distance for the stage is 452km of which the special stage is 225km long. That being said, the stage isn’t necessarily easy as it is riddled with chains of dunes where competitors can easily lose momentum.
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