Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah continued his distinguished performance in the Saudi Dakar Rally 2021, as he won the third stage of the Rally on Tuesday, holding off the challenge of French arch-rival Stephane Peterhansel.

Al-Attiyah, the three-time winner of the Dakar, sped through a 403km loop around Wadi Al-Dawasir, the gateway to the Empty Quarter, a vast sand desert that covers much of the southern Arabian Peninsula, in 3hr 17min 39sec to take victory.

Al-Attiyah said after winning the third stage: “I’m very happy with this stage. I pressed a lot and my navigator gave a great performance in terms of navigation.

“I’m happy with our performance, because the opening of the tracks and winning the stage are two great things, although we arrived in an area where navigation was very difficult, and I think a lot of the drivers lost their way. "

In the motorbike category, two-time winner Toby Price clocked 3hr 33min 23sec won his 13th Dakar stage win, the Australian KTM rider tracking down Argentinian Kevin Benavides (Honda) in a gripping race.

Price, winner of the Dakar in 2016 and 2019, finished just 1:16 ahead of Benavides — later extended by a 2min penalty for the Argentine — and now sits third in the overall standings behind new American leader Skyler Howes and Frenchman Xavier de Soultrait.

Commenting on winning the third stage, Price said: "It's been a good day for me. The bike's working well, I didn't fall and I didn't have any fuel problems like yesterday. "

In the quadbike category, Argentine Nicolas Cavelliaso came first, Giovanni Enrico came second by a minute and Argentine Manuel Andujar came third.

In the truck category, Belarusian Syarhi Vyazovich won the third stage, just 18 seconds ahead of the Russian team, leader Dmitry Sotnikov, while Russian Anton Shibalov finished third.

Leaving Wadi Al-Dawasir, Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) drivers Sebastien Loeb and Nani Roma faced vast expanses of open desert and rolling dunes.

Loeb, in the No. 305 Hunter, resumed his competitive driving for stage three, overcoming an early puncture to show the car’s pace in the open sections, and keep himself in the top three for most of the stage.

Two late punctures cost time, leading him to finish 6th, completing the stage in 03:30:53, +13:14 off the leader. After three stages, Loeb sits in 6th overall, with +45:49 to make up on the rally leader.

In the No. 311 Hunter, Spaniard Roma set out into the desert hoping to add to the confidence he and co-driver Alex Winocq are building upon each day of the Dakar Rally. Navigational difficulties cost the pair time across the stage though, finishing 16th for the day after completing the desert stage in 03:44:10, +26:31 off the leader. This puts Roma 11th overall, conceding +1:04:21 to the rally leader.

Loeb said: “I think we had a good result with the stage; after a puncture at the beginning, we had a relatively clean run. We had good driving, good navigation, everything was perfect. Then around 300km and again in the last 100km we had two further punctures losing a few minutes and obviously after three punctures I had to be very cautious to the finish. So frustrating but overall a really good stage.”

Roma added: “The visibility and navigation today was a real challenge, but the car is performing so well, it’s amazing how strong the Hunter is. For that reason, Alex and I are happy. We are building every time we are in the car and learning every day. For me, I want to be fighting more at the front, so that is the aim, but the way the car is performing, I am happy.”

Following the third stage of the team’s maiden Dakar Rally, David Richards, Bahrain Raid Xtreme team director, commented: “We are extremely happy that after three days, we have hardly had any technical issues with the cars, so that is very positive. However, we have had a lot of punctures, which has been frustrating, and the navigation has been particularly challenging, leading to lost time. But that is the same for everybody, so we just need to press on.”

Stage four of the Dakar Rally 2021 will take the drivers from Wadi Al-Dawasir to the Kingdom’s capital — Riyadh. The route is 813km in total (476km of road and 337km of special stage) and set to offer drivers a chance to really have some fun behind the wheel, with winding desert and dirt tracks.

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