• Stéphane Peterhansel finishes second
• Eighth and ninth place for Vasilyev and Terranova

The MINI JCW Buggy of Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger continues to top the overall standings after leg four of this year’s Dakar, which took them from Wadi A-Dawasir to Riyadh. The two Frenchmen ended the stage in second place, just eleven seconds behind Nasser Al-Attiyah. Team-mates Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (both ESP) were fifth and now lie third overall.

The two MINI JCW Rally crews of Orlando Terranova / Ronnie Graue (both ARG) and Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) / Dmitry Tsyro (UKR) both made it into the top ten, in eighth and ninth place respectively. They also climbed up the overall standings on the back of today’s performance. Terranova now lies eleventh, followed by Vasilyev in twelfth.

The organisers (ASO) used today’s leg to take the competitors to the east of Saudi Arabia. The result was the longest day of the Dakar 2021, at more than 800 kilometres in length. The 337 kilometres against the clock mainly featured full-throttle sections, coupled with difficult navigation.

Peterhansel continues to be impressively consistent: while he is yet to claim a stage win, he has ended each of the legs so far in the top three. It is, thanks to this consistency that he continues to top the overall standings. Today, he was on track to pick up his first stage win until a slight navigation error cost him a few seconds and with them this victory. After over 300 kilometres, he missed out by just 11 seconds.

Today’s leg was a mixed bag for Sainz: at one point, the Spaniard was the fastest man on the route. However, navigation issues saw him fall back into fifth place.

Stéphane Peterhansel: “The stage was very quick today. Unfortunately, we made a minor mistake with the navigation and lost about 30 seconds. We were flat-out today and could not have gone much quicker.”

Carlos Sainz: “The stage was ok, but navigation was not easy. We had problems in a few places.”

Tomorrow’s leg heads from Riyadh to Al Qaisumah and is 662 kilometres long in total. The 456-kilometre special stage will once again pose a real challenge for the competitors. A dune field awaits them midway through the stage, and stony sections will once again put the tyres to the test.

Result of SS4
1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) – Toyota – 2h 35m 59s
2. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / E. Boulanger (FRA) – MINI JCW Buggy – 2h 36m 10s
3. H. Lategan (RSA) / B. Cummings (RSA) – Toyota – 2h 37m 29s
4. S. Loeb (FRA) / D. Elena (MCO) – Prodrive – 2h 38m 35s
5. C. Sainz /ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) – MINI JCW Buggy – 2h 38m 55s
…
8. V. Vasilyev (RUS) / D. Tsyro (UKR) – MINI JCW Rally – 2h 46m 44s
9. O. Terranova (ARG) / R. Graue (ARG) – MINI JCW Rally – 2h 46m 53s
…
14. G. Spinelli (BRA) / Y. Haddad (BRA) – MINI ALL4 Racing – 2h 50m 46s
…
24. V. Khoroshavtsev (RUS) / A. Nikolaev (RUS) – MINI JCW Rally – 2h 59m 54s

Overall standings after SS4
1. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / E. Boulanger (FRA) – MINI JCW Buggy – 13h 15m 12s
2. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) – Toyota – 13h 20m 10s
3. C. Sainz /ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) – MINI JCW Buggy – 13h 51m 31s
4. S. Loeb (FRA) / D. Elena (MCO) – Prodrive – 14h 03m 26s
5. H. Lategan (RSA) / B. Cummings (RSA) – Toyota – 15h 03m 56s
…
11. O. Terranova (ARG) / R. Graue (ARG) – MINI JCW Rally – 14h 38m 18s
12. V. Vasilyev (RUS) / D. Tsyro (UKR) – MINI JCW Rally – 14h 41m 16s
…
19. G. Spinelli (BRA) / Y. Haddad (BRA) – MINI ALL4 Racing – 15h 10m 09s
…
28. V. Khoroshavtsev (RUS) / A. Nikolaev (RUS) – MINI JCW Rally – 15h 44m 29s

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