Rally Raid
Nikolaev rocks the Dakar's longest stage to lead by just one second
With only two Dakar Rally stages left, the Bikes and Quads are rained off as Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stéphane Peterhansel battle for the day's Car win and Eduard Nikolaev strikes back in the Trucks.
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Stage 12: Fiambalá – Chilecito – San Juan
There might be only a couple of days of racing left in the 2018 Dakar Rally, but competitors couldn't turn their attentions to the finish line just yet, as the longest stage of the race awaited them on Stage 12 – although only for the Cars and Trucks as it turned out.
Heavy rain made conditions bad enough that the Bike and Quad classes were both cancelled for the day, helping class leaders Matthias Walkner and Ignacio Casale take another step towards victory. The Cars and Trucks delivered plenty of excitement on their own however, especially the Trucks, where an epic final showdown was set up bewtweend defending champ Eduard Nikolaev and local hero Federico Villagra.
Scroll down to get the full lowdown on what happened during Stage 12 and watch Red Bull TV’s Dakar Daily show above to catch up on the highlights.
Cars
On the longest stage of the race, the rugged terrain, sharp rocks and raging rivers provided the backdrop to a battle royale between Dakar legends Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stéphane Peterhanselthat raged from start to finish.
In the end it was the Qatari who took top honours ahead of the Frenchman with Al-Attiyah's Toyota-Gazoo Racing team-mate Giniel de Villiers finishing third. However, with Carlos Sainz passing this huge test safely, he maintained his lead over Peterhansel in the general classification of 44 minutes and his team-mate is now losing hope of beating the Spanish driver, who won his only previous Dakar back in 2010.
I think it’s finished now. For sure, we will try to secure second place
Peterhansel is still second behind Sainz
© Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool
"I think it’s finished now," said Peterhansel at the stage finish. "For sure, we will try to secure second place so we controlled the gap with Nasser today. We drove a good stage. It was beautiful in the small canyons. The tracks were a little bit like WRC, but they were really clean and really nice to drive on.
"We never know if I'll finish second. I'm crossing my fingers for me, but also for Carlos. Second is a good place after the big damage to the car that we got on the marathon stage. We lost approximately 1h 45m so coming back to second place is okay."
Al-Attiyah gave his all to make more time up on Peterhansel, but was slowed late on by a double puncture. He hasn't given hope of claiming second overall though. "On the second part we tried to push, but just to keep third place overall. We finished today with two flat tyres. I think we lost four minutes. It was not easy," said the Qatari. "We still have two days left and we’ll see what we can do. There are a few minutes between us and everything is possible."
De Villiers still has a chance to finish on the podium
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Selected Standings
- 1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) 05h 49m 57s
- 2. Stéphane Peterhansel (Peugeot) +00h 02m 03s
- 3. Giniel De Villiers (Toyota) +00h 04m 33s
- 9. Carlos Sainz (Toyota) +00h 18m 07s
- 10. Cyril Despres (Peugeot) +00h 21m 37s
Trucks
In the Trucks, it was Ton van Genugten who was first across the finish line in San Juan, after a heated race saw the Dutchman swap the lead with Czech driver Martin Kolomy.
The big news of the day came behind the however, as Kamaz's defending champion Eduard Nikolaev overhauled Federico Villagra's Iveco to cross the line 1m 8s clear of the Argentinian in third. This means that Nikolaev now leads the overall standings by just one second.
Nikolaev leads by a second over Villagra
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
The battle between the pair over the final two days of racing is now set up to be an instant Dakar classic, as Nikolaev guns for back-to-back wins and Villagra fights to land an historic win in front of his fellow Argentinians. This will be one not to miss.
Selected Standings
- Ton Van Genugten (Iveco) 07h 02m 36s
- Martin Kolomy (Tatra) +00h 04m 11s
- Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) +00h 06m 21s
- Federico Villagra (Iveco) +00h 07m 29s
Instead of outright cancelling the stage, initially organisers altered the course for the Bikes and Quads, but the special was abandoned after the riders objected on safety grounds so KTM's Matthias Walkner still leads the Bikes by 32 minutes from local hero Kevin Benavides, while Chile's Ignacio Casale maintains his massive advantage 1h 34m over Nicolás Cavigliasso in the four-wheelers.
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