Stage 4 – Highlights
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FIA: Goczał fishes in troubled waters as Al Attiyah and Moraes make a splash
Five days is all it took for Eryk Goczał to add his first Ultimate win to his scorecard! The 20-year-old Polish rising star went rod to rod with the seasoned anglers and continued to earn a place among the masters of the discipline. He triumphed with 2′29″ to spare over Lucas Moraes and 2′37″ over Nasser Al Attiyah to become the second competitor to prevail in each of the Ultimate, Challenger and SSV classes. Seth Quintero hoisted his factory Hilux to fourth place, 3′52″ down, while Mitch Guthrie and his Ford M-Sport landed their biggest catch of the week in fifth place, 8′19″ behind the winner. Mattias Ekström, who had already sat out the previous stage due to sickness, took his Raptor definitively out of the rally.
Al Attiyah remained at the helm of the race, but by a reduced margin of 41 seconds over Moraes. The Qatari will have to keep the Brazilian at bay tomorrow to secure his fifth ADDC title, but at least he will no longer have to contend with his crewmate Sébastien Loeb, who rolled out of the stage on his 51st birthday right when he was leading the stage and cruising in third place overall. Quintero pounced on the opening to climb onto the podium, 7′22″ from the leader, with Goczał fourth at 9′06″. The championship leader, Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing), moved up from eighth to sixth overall.
CHALLENGER: Seaidan pockets the stage as Akeel defends her lead
Yasir Seaidan struck again two days after prevailing in Mezaira’a, spearheading a BBR Motorsport quartet consisting of himself, Dania Akeel (+7′52″), Pau Navarro (+8′06″) and the championship leader, Nicolás Cavigliasso (+12′04″), who is focusing on stage points. Akeel held on to the overall lead, now with Navarro at 4′45″, while Seaidan is back on the W2RC entrant podium at 28′54″.
SSVs: Al Helei settles the score
Mansour Al Helei saw his dreams of victory dashed by a failing turbo yesterday, but he was never going to take that one lying down. Today, the local hero vanquished the SSV championship leader, Alexandre Pinto, by 3′03″ and the Italian Enrico Gaspari by 14′14″ to win the stage in his Can-Am. The Italian cemented his overall lead, with his compatriot Michele Cinotto more than two hours down
FIM: Sanders stages a tour de force
The sixth rider out of the gate this morning, Daniel Sanders, was a man on a mission: to capitalise on the tracks left by his rivals to gallop towards Mezaira’a and claim the win there. The Australian hit the jackpot, posting the fastest time by 3′23″ over Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda HRC) and 4′52″ over Ignacio Cornejo (Hero MotorSports Team Rally). He also made short work of his title rivals: Ricky Brabec conceded 5′55″, Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) lost 8′08″ and Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC) dropped 10′36″ after opening the whole stage, first on his own and then alongside the Argentinian.
It was a performance that catapulted the 2025 Dakar winner back into the top spot, now with 7′23″ in hand over Brabec and 8′46″ over Benavides —the widest margins since the race got under way. Van Beveren moved up to fourth, 9′07″ from the leader, followed by Schareina, the biggest loser of the day, now 9′11″ from the reference time. „Chucky“ will be leading from the front tomorrow. If he can fend off the competition throughout the 167 km special, his second cup of the season awaits at the finish.
Stage 4 – HRC-Honda Highlights
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RALLY 2: Five of a kind for Docherty
A single stage stands between Michael Docherty and his aspiration to become the first Rally 2 rider to complete a clean sweep of a W2RC round! The South African extended his undefeated streak, dispatching Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally Team) by 7′50″ and Martim Ventura (Old Friends Rally Team) by 11′06″. Docherty now leads the rally by 28′08″ over Dąbrowski. His wingman, Tobias Ebster, is still third at 49′06″, but he is feeling the pressure from Ruy Barbosa (Xraids Experience), sitting in fourth place, just 2′44″ behind him.
QUADS: Kanopkinas gains the upper hand
No-one was faster than Marek Łój (Poland National Team) today… But victory still evaded him. The Pole reached the Marathon Camp on bare rims yesterday, leaving him with no choice but to call upon his service crew. The corresponding six-hour penalty for tyre changes during the marathon stage promoted Antanas Kanopkinas to the stage win and overall lead, 29′18″ ahead of his teammate Gaëtan Martinez. Factoring in the penalty, the Pole is now more than 5 hours behind the Lithuanian front-runner in the standings, paving the way for a 1-2 finish by the Chinese manufacturer.
Quelle / Source / Bilder / Pictures: WR2C
