Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi moves into Dakar Rally top 10, Sam Sunderland retires injured

Sport360 staff 09:01 10/01/2018
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  • Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi is relishing the various challenges the Dakar Rally brings as he moved up into 10th overall on a day featuring more obstacles.

    This time, a 100km stretch of sand dunes coupled with distractions from the bikes category forced the Abu Dhabi Racing and Peugeot Middle East driver to be on top of his game.

    The result was Al Qassimi moving up one place in the overall standings in the Pisco-San Juan De Marcona stage on day three.

    “Today was a tough yet good day for us. I was following a balanced rhythm in order to avoid making any mistakes, but the Dakar is known for the surprises it can throw up along the way.

    “We faced navigational challenges over the opening 30km but everything went well thereafter until we caught up with the bikes that had started ahead of us.

    “We saw a lot of bikes struggling ahead of us in the dunes; some of the bikes were stuck in the sand 50km from the start.

    “We tried to ride away from the bikes as they were blocking us, in the process I got stuck twice and lost precious time.

    “I hit a bike ahead of me on a small dune, but fortunately the rider was fine. However, we had to stop to help him and to remove the bike that had got stuck under our car.

    “Overall it was a good day for us, the distractions we faced were part of the challenges. I am now looking forward to continue with the rally in a balanced rhythm and hopefully without any problems.”

    Late Tuesday night, reigning Dakar Rally motorcycle champion Sam Sunderland dropped out of the race with a back injury, allowing Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren to take the overall lead after winning the fourth stage.

    Sunderland, riding for dominant team KTM and leading the overall rankings coming into yesterday’s stage in San Juan de Marcona, withdrew after injuring his back while entering a jump, according to the rally organisers.

    He had to be evacuated by helicopter after suffering the accident.


    Van Beveren finished five minutes ahead of team-mate Xavier de Soultrait and seven minutes in front of the Austrian KTM rider Matthias Walkner.

    The Yamaha rider takes the lead in the overall standings, 1 minute 55 seconds ahead of Chilean Pablo Quintanilla of Husqvarna.

    The UAE’s Mohammed Al Balooshi, meanwhile, finished stage four in 31st, 39 minutes, 50 seconds off Van Beveren’s pace.

    Al Balooshi will attempt to fight his way back from 31st overall, where he is over one hour and 42 minutes away from the lead.

    The 40th edition of the Dakar Rally takes place on the South American continent for the 10th time, with drivers getting the opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with the Pacific Ocean and the Peruvian dunes.

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