Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Chicherit takes Dakar 2023 Stage 3; Al-Attiyah overtakes problem-hit Sainz for lead

Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah took over the lead of the 2023 Dakar Rally for the first time on Tuesday’s Stage 3 after mechanical problems hit the Audi of arch rival Carlos Sainz Sr.
Guerlain Chicherit presented Bahrain Raid Xtreme with a brilliant comeback victory in the Dakar Rally Tuesday as rain and poor visibility cut short the third stage in Saudi Arabia.

Sainz arrived at the 467km special between Alula and Hail with a small advantage of 2m12s over reigning champion Al-Attiyah, with both drivers having scored one stage win apiece during the opening two days of action in Saudi Arabia.

But the Spaniard received a big hit to his hopes of adding a fifth Dakar win to his CV when his Audi RS Q e-tron E2 broke down 213km into the stage with problems to the left-rear tire, costing him the best part of half an hour to the Qatari driver.

Sainz managed to get going again after an extensive repair job but there was more drama for the two-time WRC champion later in the stage when navigational troubles dropped him another 20 minutes to the opposition.

The double whammy meant Sainz finished the stage provisionally in 39th place and is set to drop even further in the day's order as more drivers reach the finish line.

Al-Attiyah faced his own share of troubles after opening the road and finished well outside the top 10, but the time he gained over erstwhile leader Sainz puts him at the top of the order of the Dakar Rally after the opening three stages of the event.

The Toyota ace now holds a 13m20s lead in the general classification over privateer Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who races an Overdrive-run Toyota Hilux, with Stephane Peterhansel assuming the mantle of the top Audi driver in the standings in third — albeit 20ms off the top spot.

Sainz has provisionally dropped to eighth in the overall standings with a 33m11s deficit to make up in the remaining 11 stages of the marathon.

With both Al-Attiyah and Sainz off the pace, and Peterhansel and Mattias Ekstrom also not able to set the world alight in the other two factory Audi entries, it was a day of underdogs in Dakar.

Al-Rajhi led early on in his Overdrive Toyota at the first waypoint before Guerlain Chicherit established his authority, eventually claiming a fourth career stage win by 3m26s in his Prodrive-built Hunter.

Henk Lategan finished second in the day's tally in the factory Toyota, ahead of the Bahrain Raid Xtreme entry of Orlando Terranova.

Peterhansel was fourth-fastest but dropped seven minutes in a difficult day for Audi, while Al-Rajhi was classified another 44s adrift in fifth.

Nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb had a miserable outing on stage 3 and, having now fallen 90 minutes behind Al-Attiyah, his dream of scoring a maiden Dakar win this year appear all but over.

From early morning, rain created pools of water along the 447km stage from Alula to Hail, creating extra challenges along an already demanding route passing through a series of canyons.

With the weather worsening as the leading cars reached the 378km mark, the race management decided it was no longer possible to guarantee competitor safety. The vehicles were halted and headed back to the bivouac in convoy, with the stage results at that point counting.

It meant a great turnaround in fortunes for Chicherit and Terranova in particular, and for the entire BRX team, following an almost unprecedented series of punctures which had dropped all four Prodrive Hunters from contention the previous day.

Also impressing on the day, despite two punctures, were Lithuanians Vaidotas Zala and Paulo Fiuza who recorded the seventh fastest stage time in their Prodrive Hunter.

A delighted Chicherit said: It’s great. We were on a good pace without pushing especially hard, just keeping the same strategy that we had from the start of this rally.

“Sure it’s upsetting what happened yesterday, but now we’ve proved what we can do so we’ll stay focused and do the rally the way we planned by getting some good times, and some points for the World Rally Raid Championship.”

Zala commented: “That was a good day. We’re really happy with the car in the stage, trying to be careful in the rocky sections, but after some tweaks overnight we’ve turned a corner.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×