The Dakar racers are just getting into the swing of things after finishing the third stage. Taking off from San Miguel De Tucuman and heading across a 780 kilometer (nearly 485 miles) course that ends in San Salvador De Jujuy, Argentina. The track is loaded with loose dirt, sand, and rocks. Some unfortunate racers found a sizable hole that had an appetite for tires and wheels.

Nasser Al-Attiyah was on track to get grab first place again after his close second on stage two. He led the pack the majority of his run but came to an untimely demise when his Toyota Hilux lost a wheel catastrophically. “Game over… a bad day.” Al-Attiyah explains. “It was bad luck. We hit the other side on a big stone and we broke the wheel completely. We decided to use some rocks and the wheel to make the up the balance, but we had to drive eighty kilometers like this. We stopped to repair, but we could not.” Al-Attiyah is no longer able to compete for a high ranking position in general stands but will continue on in good faith to sponsors and supporters.

Peugeot must be happy with the stage three results having gotten four out of the five finishing slots. Stéphane Peterhansel pulled off the best performance of the day with Carlos Sainz and Sébastian Loeb rounding out the top three. In general standings, Peugeot now has first through third with Loeb in the lead by a narrow 42 seconds to Sainz.

In the big trucks, Eduard Nikolaev snagged first, giving Kamaz trucks their first win this year as well. Martin Kolomy still holds on to first place in the general standings, though by a short 33 seconds.

We’re just getting warmed up too, more Dakar coverage to come!