The third day of the Dakar, featuring a 421 km special stage around AlUla, marked a revenge for the Ford drivers. After suffering Toyota's dominance the previous day, the American cars now occupy the top five positions in the overall standings. Roma and co-driver Haro, sixth in the stage, jumped from eleventh to fifth place.
Only South African Guy Botterill, with Catalan co-driver Oriol Mena, managed to defend Toyota's potential, achieving a commendable third place. In contrast, the provisional leader, Nasser Al Attiyah, fell to tenth position after a day of pure navigation and trackless sections, which was prone to punctures.
The differences remain minimal, with only 11:39 separating leader Mitch Guthrie from Al Attiyah, and Roma and Haro are 4:02 behind the lead.
In the two-wheel drive car category, chef Nandu Jubany continues his progress. He finished 25th in Ultimate but remains second in his specific category, 25:59 behind Simon Vitse. Conversely, Gerard Farrés suffered a major setback in the SSV category, losing nearly four hours and dropping from 10th to 27th in the general classification.
In the bikes category, Honda prevailed over KTM. Valencian rider Tosha Schareina won the stage and is now third overall, while Daniel Sanders resisted to maintain the lead. The riders will face another long stage this Wednesday, 876 km, between Riyadh and Wadi Ad-Dawasir.
