Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (Toyota) drove hard on Wednesday and set the best time in the special of the 10th stage of the Dakar-2024, in the monumental rocks of Al-Ula, in Saudi Arabia.
He is ahead of the South African Brian Baragwanath (Century), at 5 min 43. The Lithuanian Benediktas Vanagas (Toyota) completes the podium in a race where the stakes were elsewhere.
In the duel for the title, the overall leader Carlos Sainz (Audi) gave himself a scare with a stop of around ten minutes on the 371 km special, where the navigation was tricky with some rocky tracks.
His runner-up Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) could have taken full advantage of it if he had not also had to stop for almost 5 minutes.
The Madrilenian still gave up 7 min 11 to the Alsatian at the finish, and still had a 13 min 22 lead over the nine-time world rally champion before the dangerous stage.
The 11th stage on Thursday is the biggest piece of the second week and undoubtedly the last chance to make a dent in the general: almost 500 km of special between Al-Ula and Yanbu, on the shores of the Red Sea, with a lot of punctures to be expected on inhospitable ground.