For the third straight stage Team Peugeot sweeps the podium. It a race where domination can be difficult, Peugeot has shown they have what it takes to win.
Stéphane Peterhansel had a big stage win in front of teammates Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb. Peterhansel regained more than 8 minutes and takes control of the general standings.
Peterhansel said, “I saw nobody today, just sometimes I saw dust. I did see Seb at the last 20 kilometres before the end. He had a puncture and I overtook him, but during all the day I was alone, trying to be completely focused on the track, because it was a really long stage. Since the beginning we’ve only had stages with tracks. There have been no dunes and no soft sand, so a lot of things can still happen and the car is still young, so we will see.”
“We tried to push, you know, but we cannot, because the Peugeots are going really fast and every day we lose four or eight minutes. But what can we do? We’re just trying to save our positon. It’s a very bad feeling, but we know that their buggy is fast. We’ll see – we have how many days left? We’ll try and finish in the top three. There are no better stages for the 4×4, because their buggy is going really well everywhere, on rally tracks and off-road,” Nasser Al-Attiyah said after struggling to overtake the Peugeots.
It was a rough stage for Team Speed Energy. Robby Gordon had broken down at check point 11, but lucky for him teammate Sheldon Creed had the part needed to get the number one Gordini back up and running.
They have even more time to make up with Creed finished 35th and Gordon finished 38th. Gordon is still waiting to hear back on his appeal of the penalty he received during Stage 2. Do you think the Gordini’s have a chance to make it this year or have the Peugeots already wrapped this one up? Tell us in the comments below!