Reigning Dakar Champ Nasser Takes Stage with Fastest Time

Salta, Argentina – Nasser was able to get between the trio of Peugeot cars leading the overall classification today as he recorded the third fastest time of the day. The reigning champion was also the quickest four-wheel drive contestant on the stage running from Uyuni to Salta and is currently placed fourth overall: 17min, 36sec behind race leader Sébastien Loeb.

With Nasser and Mathieu’s car now safely parked in the Salta bivouac, plans are being hatched for their second week of the Dakar. With dunes on the horizon and plenty of testing navigation still to come, there’s plenty of time for the skillset of this duo to come to the fore.

Both driver and co-driver will get the chance to recharge their batteries during tomorrow’s rest day while their crew of mechanics perform a full service on the car.

“All we can do now is attack,” revealed Nasser at the conclusion of today’s stage. “Taking the fight to the Peugeots will be tough, but it looks like even they can run into trouble. There are some extremely hard stages coming. I did my best throughout the week, even behind them. Right now I’m far ahead of the other 4x4s… I’ll try to defend my position and finish on the podium, which would be quite an accomplishment.”

With no racing tomorrow, Nasser will be back in the driving seat on Monday when the first dunes of the 2016 Dakar Rally are waiting to be negotiated.

There’s more about current Dakar Rally champion and Olympic medallist Nasser Al-Attiyah on RedBull.com. Plus you can show your support for Nasser at www.redbull.com/yallanasser and win a ride as his co-driver.