Biker Sunderland retires as Al Rajhi takes car lead in Dakar Rally

Two-time motorcycle champion Sam Sunderland pulled out of the Dakar Rally with mechanical problems on Monday, while Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi took the lead in the car category on his home terrain.

GasGas rider Sunderland, winner on two wheels in 2017 and 2022, stopped after just 11km of the third stage and the Briton then withdrew after waiting more than three-and-a-half hours for assistance.

Argentina’s Kevin Benavides was awarded the motorcycle stage win after rivals — including Botswana’s overall leader Ross Branch — were handed penalties for speeding.

Overdrive Toyota’s Al Rajhi moved up from second to the overall lead by finishing third in the 438km stage from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya.

Audi’s Carlos Sainz, the overnight leader, was sixth and dropped to second place overall and 29 seconds behind the Saudi, with Swedish teammate Mattias Ekstrom third.

Defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah of Qatar moved up to fifth overall, 10 minutes and 49 seconds off the pace, in a Prodrive Hunter.

Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, also with Prodrive, had a tough day with multiple punctures and ended the day ninth and nearly 25 minutes off the lead after starting third overall.

“We lost a lot of time repairing the tyre and inflating it again. Then we had to stop every 20km because it was losing air,” the Frenchman said.

Brazilian Lucas Moraes became his country’s first stage winner in the car category, beating Ekstrom by nine seconds and moving up to fourth overall.

German Hero motorcycle rider Sebastian Buhler crashed during the stage and was flown to hospital for checks. That came a day after Spaniard Carles Falcon was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.

Falcon’s TwinTrail team said he had been transferred to a hospital in Riyadh where he would be kept in an induced coma for the next few days. Teammate Isaac Feliu had withdrawn from the race to be with Falcon.

Reuters