MOTORSPORT: El Matador rules Dakar with third win

Already one of motorsport’s all-time greats, Carlos Sainz has elevated himself further with victory in one of the toughest of the 42 Dakar rallies.

‘El Matador’ won the first Dakar in Saudi Arabia overnight in an X-Raid MINI buggy, almost 6 1/2 minutes ahead of last year’s victor, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar in a Toyota Hulux, with ‘Monsieur Dakar’ Stephane Peterhansel third in another MINI, almost 10 minutes behind his Spanish teammate.

Australian Toby Price maintained his record of motorcycle podiums at every Dakar he has finished with his third place behind American Ricky Brabec, who ended KTM’s 18-year supremacy by triumphing for Honda, while Chilean Pablo Quintanilla was second on a Husqvarna.

Price, who was 20 minutes behind Brabec, has now had two wins (2016, 2019) and three thirds from six Dakar starts.

The event originally was run from Paris to Dakar, the capital of Senegal in Africa, before going to South America for 11 years.

Chuffed at the success of its first edition of the 12-day off-road rally, Saudi Arabia now has its sights on hosting a lot more major motorsport. Plans for a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2023 were announced as the Dakar concluded at Qiddya, near the country’s capital Riyadh.

An elaborate circuit is being built there against the backdrop of a 200-metre sheer cliff and the Saudis want it to be a home to World Endurance Championship sports car racing and MotoGP too.

“Qiddya has all it takes to become the motor sport capital of the world,” its track designer, Austrian ex-F1 racer Alex Wurz said.

Sainz, 57, and father of the McLaren F1 racer of the same name, added his third Dakar victory to two World Rally Championships with Toyota in the 1990s.

“It’s been really tight from the first day and we’ve had to push until the end,” Sainz said.

“We needed to be at 100 per cent all the time.

“It makes the victory even nicer when the battle is so tough. On top of that I win in a third different car (after success with Volkswagen in 2010 and Peugeot in 2018).”

Sainz’s countryman, dual F1 world champion Fernando Alonso, made it to the finish on his Dakar debut, 13th and almost 4 3/4 hours behind in a Toyota.

Brabec‘s success in the bikes was the first Dakar victory by an American, while his compatriots Casey Currie and Sean Berryman won the side-bayside category on a CanAm.

Chilean Ignacio Casale claimed his third Dakar quad title on a Yamaha, while Russia extended its truck dominance, with Kamaz following up on its 11 victories in South America with another first and second by Andrey Karginov and Anton Shibalov.

Australian Price’s latest motorcycle podium came after two stage wins but the death of his Portuguese mate Paulo Goncalves on the seventh day.

“It’s not the result we came for, but with the two weeks we’ve had I’m quite happy to keep my podium streak going,” Price said.

“Now we’re going to regroup for 2021. “I’ll be back, looking to get the No.1 plate again.”