Dakar, Day 6: Petrucci makes History

Today, the 346-km special to the east of Riyadh held a few surprises in store as Danilo Patrucci won his first Dakar stage.

At the age of 31 years, Danilo Petrucci is participating in his first Dakar and is learning at lightning speed. This is not surprising for a recent retiree from the Moto GP circuits who spent ten years of his life racing round them. With ten podium places and ten victories in the ultimate category, the Italian almost opened his rally-raid victory account yesterday. After finishing third on stage 4 of his new career, “Petrux” received a 10-minute penalty at the bivouac… for speeding!

You could not make it up! After the gravel traps alongside the circuit tracks, the Tech 3 KTM rider today got a taste of Saudi Arabian sand when he had to avoid a dromedary. “That’s my first rally-raid fall. After that I calmed down a little, Kevin Benavides caught up with me and we finished the special together”.

At the finishing line, the newcomer to the KTM team, who took the liberty of following the title holder’s pace after only five days of racing, achieved the day’s second-best time. By a twist of fate, today he in turn benefited from a speeding penalty on arriving in Riyadh, specifically the one handed out to his team-mate Toby Price, who was the quickest rider of the day but received a 6-minute punishment.

Never before has a Moto GP rider become an official rider on the Dakar from one day to the next. It is a safe bet that Petrucci will continue breaking the “rookie” mould by the time the rally returns to Jeddah as well as during next season in the world championship, in which the Mattighofen based constructor has already enrolled him.

Tomorrow, the day before the rest day, the competitors will swap loops: the one to the east for the cars, with the bikes and quads to the north. It will be a crucial day by the end of which all the leading lights will hope to enjoy positions of strategic importance before the return leg towards Jeddah.

Stage

Standings

ASO