The title will also be out of reach for Sébastien Loeb who also won his fourth special, but who was unable to shake the supremacy that Stéphane Peterhansel exercises over the rally.
This was the last opportunity for the competitors to make the difference before a final sprint on Saturday. The start of the special was marked by the last dunes in the region of San Juan whilst the end of the stage near Córdoba gave pride of place to quick tracks perfectly suited to former rally drivers. Today was a last session of all out attack and a last opportunity to grab a place on the final podium…
In the car race, Sébastien Loeb did his utmost to recover the time lost yesterday to Stéphane Peterhansel. However, despite an end to the stage that was said to be more favourable to the former WRC driver, the man from Alsace got a puncture at the worst possible time and could only regain 18 seconds over his team-mate and lies 5’35 behind in the general standings before the last stage.
Orlando Terranova has had to grit his teeth and bear the domination of the Peugeots throughout the rally. Although the Argentinean driver was not able to contest the supremacy of the Loeb/Peterhansel duo, he at least managed to beat the 3008 driven by Cyril Despres to take third place on the day’s special, his best result on the Dakar 2017. The stage’s local boy also took advantage of his result to climb up the general standings and join in the fight for outright fourth place in Buenos Aires, behind the untouchable Peugeot trio.
Stat of the day
8, which is the number of victories achieved by Sébastien Loeb in the region of Córdoba in Argentina in the WRC. It is a terrain that the Frenchman especially appreciates and one which allowed him to obtain his fourth stage win, a triumph that was nonetheless insufficient to grab outright victory on the rally from the hands of Mr. Dakar, Stéphane Peterhansel…
