Having made history in the first week by becoming the Dakar’s youngest ever stage winner, the teenager now sits second overall in the Lightweight Vehicles leaderboard.
“There was no dust out front and my co-pilot Dennis (Zenz) did an amazing job. The car ran absolutely flawless and it was a smooth day like we wanted.” – Seth Quintero
Quintero’s fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Cristina Gutiérrez also enjoyed a trouble-free run on day seven to finish the stage in fifth.
“We did a very clean stage and I needed that. The last days we have had some problems so it was good to have a clean ride.” – Cristina Gutiérrez
Also having a good day in the Lightweight Vehicles race today was Chaleco López who took the stage win. But it was another tough day for Dakar debutant Mattias Ekström.
There’s drama in the car race with race leader Stéphane Peterhansel suffering a big impact with a rock on the route between Ha’il and Sakaka. The 13-time Dakar winner will have to use all his experience to prepare his MINI Buggy overnight for another 375km of #racing tomorrow.
“I hit a rock with 40km to go and broke a rim. We spent a long time changing the wheel.” – Stéphane Peterhansel
Ready to pounce is second placed Nasser Al-Attiyah who is less than eight minutes behind Peterhansel in the general classification.
“Everything is going very well and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do. The race is very tight between me and Stéphane.” – Nasser Al-Attiyah
Behind the leaders there is a gap of more than half an hour to Carlos Sainz in third overall. Despite the time difference, the defending champion has not given up hope of retaining his title.
“I’m focused on driving well in this second week and recovering the time lost in the first week.” – Carlos Sainz
After seven stages Kuba Przygo?ski is fourth overall, matching his best ever finish at the Dakar. The Pole is happy with his rhythm at the start of the second week.
“First day of Marathon Stage was quite tricky. We had camel grass and sand followed by stones. One time we got a puncture but we were happy with our rhythm overall.” – Kuba Przygo?ski
A seventh place finish on stage seven is Cyril Despres’ best result of the #rally so far. The five-time winner of the bike race and co-driver Mike Horn were all smiles at the finish line today.
“We took care of car today so there’s no problem there. No punctures and no other problems. Now we have a better understanding of the tyre pressure we need to use.” – Cyril Despres
The news was not so good for 2009 Dakar #rally winner Giniel de Villiers as he ran into further tyre trouble.
“We ran out of tyres unfortunately. So far at this Dakar we have had 13 punctures.” – Giniel de Villiers
It was another long day in the desert for nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb compounded by a broken wheel hub 30km from the end of the stage which still didn’t prevent him from bringing his Hunter BRX to the finish line.
Two-time Dakar winner Toby Price may have lost his overall lead on the first half of the Marathon Stage, but he’s confident he can get back on top soon. After all, new leader Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo only has a one second advantage over Price.
“We’ve got a little bit of an issue, but other than that everything’s all good.” – Toby Price
Price’s Red Bull KTM Factory #racing team-mate Sam Sunderland is now third overall, himself just a couple of minutes back from Cornejo Florimo.
“It’s really difficult to know where the other guys are so you’re just pushing and pushing. I just concentrated on keeping a good rhythm and not making any mistakes.” – Sam Sunderland
It was another Top 10 result for rookie Daniel Sanders, despite a nasty fall in the dunes.
“There was this one rock in a sand dune which I hit with my front wheel. That threw me head first straight onto the dune. I was a bit wounded and Ricky (Brabec) stopped to make sure I was alright.” – Daniel Sanders
Elsewhere in the bike race, Štefan Svitko, Matthias Walkner, Laia Sanz and Camille Chapelière all arrived to the midway point of the Marathon Stage.
“The first 100km of the stage reminded me of #racing in the Netherlands, sandy with little bumps.” – Matthias Walkner
Things are looking very settled in the truck race with a 1-2-3 result on the stage for Team Kamaz Master reflecting their dominance of the overall rankings. A fifth stage win of the 2021 Dakar keeps race leader Dmitry Sotnikov in complete control of the category.
Tomorrow we’ll find out whose mechanical skills have been put to the test overnight and which competitors can make time on the 375 kilometres that remain of the Marathon Stage.
