Toyota star Nasser Al-Attiyah scored his third consecutive stage victory of Dakar 2021 on Wednesday, narrowly beating overall leader Stephane Peterhansel of X-raid Mini. The three-time champion eventually won the stage by just 11 seconds from Peterhansel, who leapfrogged Lategan for second in the final 39km of the day's running. South African Henk Lategan came third, but the Frenchman Peterhansel continued at the top of the overall standings, with Al-Attiyah behind him, while Spain returned to third place Carlos Sainz, and the French finished fourth with Sebastian Loeb. Al-Attiyah, Peterhansel and their teammates Lategan and Sainz made Stage 4 the most openly-contested battle of Dakar so far, with the quartet separated by just a minute at one point during the 337km test between Wadi Al-Dawasir and Riyadh. Commenting on the victory after the fourth stage, Al-Attiyah said: "The round was not easy. We wasted a minute due to a mistake, but we were not the only ones who made mistakes and we returned to the right path quickly, trying to get a comfortable difference, which is difficult, but the presence of my teammate is easy. Lategan from Toyota Gazoo Racing Team right behind me is good, and that's what I want." Following Wednesday's running, Peterhansel continues to sit at the top of the overall standings despite not scoring a stage victory so far, leading Al-Attiyah by just under five minutes. Peterhansel said: "It's just one relentless attack after another." The overall leader has to dig really deep to defend his lead over Al-Attiyah. Peterhansel said: "We're not marking one another, it's just one relentless attack after another, and in the end we finished in the same time! Apart from a small navigation error near the finish, I don't think I can push much harder. "To stay in contention, we need to go all out. So far, so good, as we aren't making too many mistakes. In the old times, 50% of all contenders would be knocked out of the race by driving mistakes or technical issues, but it's become far less common, so you just have to hold on." Loeb enjoyed his strongest showing of the Dakar 2021 so far, putting his Prodrive-built Bahrain Raid Xtreme BR1 buggy fourth in the day's order and just a minute behind third-placed Lategan, while Mathieu Serradori ran into trouble and finished seventh, 51 minutes back, and Yazeed Al-Rajhi plummeted down the general standings. The previous day's driving was pure desert and dunes, threatening navigational challenges, but with vast open expanses to allow Loeb and Nani Roma to show the Hunter's speed. In contrast, today's stage offered long winding desert and dirt tracks designed to test the driver's technical ability, but also provide a chance for them to really enjoy themselves behind the wheel. Loeb, in the No. 305 Hunter, needed no invitation in using his experience with this type of driving. Avoiding any punctures but with a slight navigational error, Loeb finished the stage 4th but was handed a five minute penalty for speeding on the stage, resulting in a final stage ranking of 7th with a time of 02:43:35, +7:36 off the stage leader. The time penalty now puts Loeb in 7th overall. Roma, driving the No. 311 Hunter, continues to climb the rankings as he and co-driver Alex Winocq cement their partnership that started just days before the first stage of the rally. Roma completed stage four with a time of 02:49:39, +13:40 off the stage leader. This earned Roma 13th for the day and 10th overall, with a deficit of +1:17:50 to the overall leader. Roma said: "It was a good day but not easy. A long route with plenty of fast and twisting tracks in some areas, and a lot of dunes. We are happy though; the car is still performing fantastically. Tomorrow we are expecting a harder day though, so we must take some time to rest and let the team prepare the car, but we are excited for the challenge." Jakub Przygonski finished three minutes behind Sainz in the lead Overdrive-run Toyota Hilux in sixth, beating the Abu Dhabi Racing Peugeot of ex-World Rally Championship driver Khalid Al Qassimi. Vladimir Vasilyev and Orlando Terranova were classified eighth and ninth respectively in X-raid's 4x4 Mini Coopers, while Erik van Loon made it two entries from Overdrive in the top 10. In the quad category, Manuel Andújar claimed his maiden Dakar stage win as fellow Argentinian and 2019 champion Nicolás Cavigliasso took command of the general standings. Aron Domżała won stage 4 in the lightweight vehicle category without threatening the overall leader of his teammate at Can-Am, Francisco "Chaleco" López. Finally, the Dmitry Sotnikov festival continued in the truck category while Czech Martin Macík capitalized on Siarhei Viazovich's setback to move up to second place, 26 minutes behind the leading Kamaz. It was a mixed bag of results for the Hero MotoSports squad in the bikes category. Its high-point of the stage came with a strong 6th place finish for Joaquim Rodrigues and 24th for Sebastian Buhler. Unfortunately, CS Santosh's Dakar 2021 journey came to an end after crashing mid-way through stage four. Thankfully, when paramedics arrived at the scene, Santosh was said to be awake and stable and has been shifted to a hospital in Riyadh. The Saudi Dakar Rally 2021 will continue Thursday, in its fifth stage, which begins in Riyadh and ends in Qaisumah, as this stage is characterized by rugged sand dunes and the many rocks that will cover some tracks, with a distance of 795 kilometers, of which 456 kilometers are a special stage. — SG
