SHUBAYTAH: Carlos Sainz benefited from race leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi’s title-ending crash and Stephane Peterhansel breaking down in the desert, to take the provisional lead after the first part of the Dakar Rally sixth stage on Thursday.
The stage is an unprecedented two-day marathon around Shubaytah — a 780km loop in the kingdom’s vast Empty Quarter with more than 600km of specials for motorcycles and nearly 550km for cars.
On Thursday, it was the veteran Spaniard Sainz who showed his mettle and was leading when the day’s action stopped at 16:00 (13:00GMT) local time with competitors spending the night at the nearest of seven bivouacs dotted around the dunes.
The 61-year-old three-time Dakar winner leads the general standings by more than a quarter of an hour on his Audi teammate Matthias Ekstrom of Sweden.
The Prodrive drivers are trailing with Qatar’s defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah losing time and sitting some 22 minutes off the pace.
France’s Sebastien Loeb remains fourth overall at almost 37min.
Nine-time world rally champion Sainz had attempted a daring tactical move on Wednesday, deliberately losing 40 minutes to start behind the leaders on Thursday, to follow their tracks and avoid opening in the dunes.
Al-Rajhi and Peterhansel both lost out.
The 42-year-old Saudi Toyota driver Al-Eahji started the morning leading the standings but disaster struck when he was unable to repair his Hilux after an accident which occurred 51km into the stage.
“The car did a barrel roll and now is damaged,” explained Al-Rajhi, who finished third in last year’s race.
And Dakar Rally veteran Peterhansel was stranded in the middle of the desert at midday, the victim of a hydraulic failure.
“We had a puncture and the hydraulic jack system started playing up,” said Peterhansel, who notched up a record-equalling 50th car stage win on Sunday.
“We don’t have a hand jack so we don’t know how we’re going to change the wheel,” he said.
“With the damage to the hydraulic system, I’ve lost the power steering and I don’t know how we’re going to manage to pull through.”
Whatever happens, the Dakar is lost to the man with a record 14 victories, six on motorcycles and eight in cars.
Thursday and Friday’s 48-hour stage is the last big part of the first week, before the rest day on Saturday in Riyadh.
In the motorbike category, Frenchman Adrien van Beveren led the sixth stage at the midway point with his American Honda teammate Ricky Brabec moving into the overall race lead.
Van Beveren finished the day 1min 21sec ahead of Brabec with Australian Toby Price third at 1min 49sec.
Chilean rider Pablo Quintanilla, winner of Wednesday’s stage, ran out of fuel about 10km from the first refueling point, losing almost an hour and a half.
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Al-Rajhi suffers title-ending crash on marathon Dakar Rally 48-hour stage
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Al-Rajhi suffers title-ending crash on marathon Dakar Rally 48-hour stage
- 61-year-old, three-time Dakar winner, Carlos Sainz leads general standings by more than a quarter of an hour
England ‘not fearing anything’ against India, says Curran
England will take on the favorites and hosts in front of 35,000 fiercely partisan fans in Mumbai on Thursday
Curran said that because he and many of his England teammates play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), they will not be fazed
MUMBAI: England will go into their T20 World Cup semifinal against India with no fear, said all-rounder Sam Curran on Tuesday, adding that their first job would be to silence a raucous home crowd.
England will take on the favorites and hosts in front of 35,000 fiercely partisan fans in Mumbai on Thursday, with a place in the final against South Africa or New Zealand at stake.
The noise will be deafening at times in the cauldron-like confines of the Wankhede Stadium.
But Curran said that because he and many of his England teammates — such as Will Jacks at Mumbai Indians — play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), they will not be fazed.
“It’s an experience as a young cricketer you dream of — playing India in the semifinal of a World Cup,” left-arm seamer Curran told reporters.
Curran was in the international wilderness a year ago but forced his way back into the England squad with eye-catching performances in T20 franchise leagues, including the IPL.
“India are a quality side but we’ve played a lot of cricket here. We know how to play on these grounds and we know what to expect,” he said.
“The IPL, no question, has helped a lot. Having played in the ground many times, there’s not many unknowns.”
England experienced a hostile crowd at the Wankhede in their first match of the tournament when they beat Nepal in a final-ball thriller.
It was Curran who bowled the nerveless final “death” over, conceding just five runs when Nepal needed 10, to stave off an embarrassing defeat.
He then repeated the feat against Italy and has contributed with the bat from number six, scoring 149 runs so far with a best of 43 not out.
“We’re not fearing anything and I’m sure both teams are really excited by the challenge,” Curran said, adding England could judge how well they were playing by the volume of the fans.
“If the crowd are silent, England are probably going to be doing well. That’s our positive way of looking at it,” said Curran.
It is the third T20 World Cup in a row that England will have played India in the semifinals and each time the winners went on to lift the trophy.
In 2022, England crushed India by 10 wickets in Adelaide and went on to beat Pakistan in the Melbourne final.
Two years ago India won in Guyana by a similarly dominant 68 runs before downing South Africa in Barbados.
South Africa face New Zealand in the first semifinal on Wednesday. The final will take place on Sunday in Ahmedabad.
“I guess this is what the last four or five weeks have been building for,” said Curran.
“And hopefully we can take one more step toward the final.”
Curran said that because he and many of his England teammates play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), they will not be fazed
MUMBAI: England will go into their T20 World Cup semifinal against India with no fear, said all-rounder Sam Curran on Tuesday, adding that their first job would be to silence a raucous home crowd.
England will take on the favorites and hosts in front of 35,000 fiercely partisan fans in Mumbai on Thursday, with a place in the final against South Africa or New Zealand at stake.
The noise will be deafening at times in the cauldron-like confines of the Wankhede Stadium.
But Curran said that because he and many of his England teammates — such as Will Jacks at Mumbai Indians — play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), they will not be fazed.
“It’s an experience as a young cricketer you dream of — playing India in the semifinal of a World Cup,” left-arm seamer Curran told reporters.
Curran was in the international wilderness a year ago but forced his way back into the England squad with eye-catching performances in T20 franchise leagues, including the IPL.
“India are a quality side but we’ve played a lot of cricket here. We know how to play on these grounds and we know what to expect,” he said.
“The IPL, no question, has helped a lot. Having played in the ground many times, there’s not many unknowns.”
England experienced a hostile crowd at the Wankhede in their first match of the tournament when they beat Nepal in a final-ball thriller.
It was Curran who bowled the nerveless final “death” over, conceding just five runs when Nepal needed 10, to stave off an embarrassing defeat.
He then repeated the feat against Italy and has contributed with the bat from number six, scoring 149 runs so far with a best of 43 not out.
“We’re not fearing anything and I’m sure both teams are really excited by the challenge,” Curran said, adding England could judge how well they were playing by the volume of the fans.
“If the crowd are silent, England are probably going to be doing well. That’s our positive way of looking at it,” said Curran.
It is the third T20 World Cup in a row that England will have played India in the semifinals and each time the winners went on to lift the trophy.
In 2022, England crushed India by 10 wickets in Adelaide and went on to beat Pakistan in the Melbourne final.
Two years ago India won in Guyana by a similarly dominant 68 runs before downing South Africa in Barbados.
South Africa face New Zealand in the first semifinal on Wednesday. The final will take place on Sunday in Ahmedabad.
“I guess this is what the last four or five weeks have been building for,” said Curran.
“And hopefully we can take one more step toward the final.”
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