Dakar Rally champion Toby Price has edged up to fourth place overall after coming sixth in the motorcycle category’s fourth stage in Saudi Arabia.
The Australian finished three minutes behind Chile’s Jose Ignacio Cornejo, who was declared the day’s winner after initial victor Sam Sunderland was slapped with a five-minute penalty for speeding on the 453km stage, from the Red Sea to Al Ula, on Wednesday.
Two-times champion Price, who won the first stage before finishing 17th and sixth in the next two stages, is content with his progress.
The Australian is comfortably twelve minutes behind American overall leader Ricky Brabec with his plan to make his move in the second week.
“We had a couple of little mistakes just before the second neutralisation. Then we had a couple of little mistakes here at the end as well, but all in all, the day’s been really consistent,” Price told Dakar.com.
“We haven’t lost too much time to the guys, so we’re still in contention and still right there. We’re in good shape.
“Every team’s always stronger every year and they’re definitely trying to take that No.1 spot off the KTM team. We just need to stay right there and we should be good.”
On the fourth stage, Argentine Kevin Benavides was second, and Brabec finished fifth.
Ross Branch, the stage two winner who hurt his shoulder in the third and started the fourth last, came a creditable third. Also notable was Paulo Goncalves, who lost more than 10 hours on Tuesday and placed fourth.
Meanwhile Stephane Peterhansel, the most successful driver in Dakar history, held off defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah by more than two minutes for his 77th stage win.
“My (first-time) co-driver (Paulo Fiuza) and I are starting to communicate more serenely and accurately, it’s getting better,” the 13-times champion said.
“This new Dakar is brilliant, it has all the ingredients: superb landscapes, tricky navigation, and enough difficulties to make a selection.”
Carlos Sainz drove conservatively to be seven minutes back in third, and became the first driver to retain the lead. He was three minutes ahead of Al-Attiyah, who was penalised three minutes before the stage for not letting a competitor pass on Tuesday.
“The last 100 kilometres were the toughest sector I’ve ever faced in the Dakar. It was insane,” Sainz said.
“There were rocks all over the place and I could see the tracks of the bikes, it was devilish. At times like these, making it to the finish without running into trouble already feels like a win.”
Peterhansel was less than 12 minutes off the overall pace in third, and nobody else was within 23 minutes of Sainz’s lead.