(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Agencies
Al Duwadimi: Five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al Attiyah was fourth to the finish line, and maintained fourth place in the general rankings as a road book note error caused many drivers at the front of the field to lose their bearings, forcing Dakar Rally organisers to erase any gains or losses for a 20km stretch during yesterday's stage seven.
The roadbook error came at kilometre 158 of stage 7, a 412km loop which started and finished in Al Duawadimi, and was enough to take the leaders off course.
Losing precious time, they drove aimlessly in the desert until an organisation helicopter came to put the cars back on the right track.
“We were there for 50 minutes, 50 minutes of going round in circles,” said Belgian driver Guillaume de Mevius, who was among the first to arrive at the faulty mark in his Mini.
The incident prompted stinging criticism of the organisers.
“When you want to do the roadbook, do it well,” said Qatar's Al Attiyah, after finishing the stage in fourth spot in his Dacia.
“You have to check it many, many times because this was a disaster. It was a big risk.”
Brazilian Lucas Moraes of Toyota emerged from the confusion as the day's stage winner, finishing 7min 41sec ahead of Swede Mattias Ekstrom with American Mitchell Guthrie at 9min 28sec, both in Fords.
In the overall standings, South African leader Henk Lategan in a Toyota has a lead of just 21 seconds over Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al Rajhi. Ekstrom is third at 10min 25sec and Al Attiyah fourth at 21min 57sec.
The car category also saw the withdrawal for“medical reasons” of the duo of Toby Price and Sam Sunderland of Overdrive.
The double Dakar winners in the bike category had teamed up this year in the cars. Daniel Sanders underlined his dominance on the bikes, which were not affected by the roadbook error, with his fifth stage win of this year's race.
The 30-year-old Australian (KTM) finished 3min 36sec ahead of 19-year-old Spaniard Edgar Canet.
Sanders now leads the standings by 15min 33sec from Spaniard Tosha Schareina (Honda) who finished the day in third place, a further nine seconds behind Canet.
Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren is third overall at 26min 07sec. Today's eighth stage is a 483km special from Al Duwadimi to Riyadh.
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