1. Dark day for Audi
For the first five stages, we’ve started our five things with a dedicated focus on the bikes. Today, we start off with the cars and with good reason. The might of Germany taking on Japan in a battle of the manufacturers has been a strong and often controversial talking point of this year’s rally.
Audi’s hybrid challenger, the RS Q e-tron E2, has been making waves on many fronts against Toyota’s trusty workhorse, the Hilux. And the recent rule change by the FIA and the event promoter to hand Audi a power boost of 8kW has left the likes of Nasser Al-Attiyah with raging fury. Although the latter comfortably won the last stage over Audi’s Stephane Peterhansel, the fact that the additional power helped the Audi’s wasn’t lost on the current overall leader.
But things changed quite dramatically overnight. At 212 km, Peterhansel flew over a 15 metre sand dune and landed flat on its wheels, breaking the car’s suspension, knocking out Peterhansel momentarily and leaving his navigator Edouard Boulanger with severe back pain. He was airlifted to hospital for observation, Minutes later, Carlos Sainz Snr crashed at the exact same spot, ripping the front left wheel and suspension off his Audi.
A view of the Audi hybrid of Spain's Carlos Sainz (L) and the Audi hybrid of France's Stephane Peterhansel are pictured after a crash during Stage 6 of Dakar 2023 between Ha'il and Al Duwadimi. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) Source: AFP / FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images
Audi's hybrid driver Carlos Sainz (R) of Spain walks next to his car after a crash during Stage 6 of Dakar 2023 between Ha'il and Al Duwadimi. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) Source: AFP / FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images
The weather has not been kind to the teams and competitors in this year’s event. Much like the sudden rainstorm that hit stage three a few days before, the rain returned in between stages five and six and made the bivouac at Al Duwadimi impossible to set up camp.
This has forced the event promoters to modify the distances of the next three stages, including the one just completed. Nonetheless, it’ll be fascinating to see how each of the competitors adapt to these changes, especially for those who are competing for outright glory.
3. Toby stays within touch of Howes, but can Chucky fight back?
Toby Price and Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders both had positive days across the stage and are consolidating their positions heading into the upcoming rest day, as well as the final week of competition.
Price bounced back from his late stage crash near the end of stage five, despite copping a knock to his shoulder that remained quite sore for much of this stage. Third overall for the stage and second outright in the general classification behind Skyler Howes bodes really well for the two times winner of Dakar. And from his perspective, he’s just biding his time and waiting for disasters to happen around him.
Tonby Price finished third on stage six of Dakar 2023.
Daniel 'Chucky' Sanders was in better spirits on stage six, coming in seventh. Credit: Federico Romano
4. Molly is knocking on the door of the top ten in T4
We are continually impressed by the dedication and resilience of Molly Taylor and Andrew Short to fight back the early dramas that befell them in the opening stages.
The South Racing Can-Am pair drove a solid stage overnight to finish 14th for the day, 22’07” off eventual stage winners, Marek Goczal and Maciej Marton. The only issue that they had to deal with was a broken constant velocity transmission belt after 90 km, causing some intermittent driveline issues along the way.
Molly Taylor and Andrew Short now sit 12th overall in the T4 Modified Production SSV class.
5. Seven different stage winners in the bike component.
We’ve seen seven different riders take out each of the stages so far in this year’s event. Such is the hugely competitive nature of the Rally GP class, we’ve yet to see our first multiple stage winner. Will stage seven change all that?
Catch the stage six highlights tonight from 5pm AEDT on SBS and anytime on SBS On Demand.
