JEDDAH (Dispatches) - Having slipped nearly eight minutes behind Peterhansel with a subdued showing in the first part of the marathon stage, Al-Attiyah brought the deficit back under five minutes with his fourth stage win of 2021 in the 375km loop between Sakaka and Neom on Monday.
Starting fourth on the road, the three-time champion immediately grabbed the lead at the first waypoint from Carlos Sainz and Sunday’s stage winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi, with Peterhansel sitting 30 seconds behind in fourth place.
Peterhansel managed to snatch the lead from Al-Attiyah by Waypoint 4, but the Qatari driver never slipped more than 20 seconds behind the 13-time winner and reclaimed the spot just two check points later.
Once back in front, the Toyota driver steadily extended his advantage, eventually winning the stage by just under a minute from reigning champion and X-raid driver Sainz, with Peterhansel eventually finishing 3m3s down in third.
Former WRC driver Khalid Al Qassimi secured his best result of 2021 so far in fourth, finishing 12m44s behind Al-Attiyah, with PH Sport teammate Cyril Despres ending up another five seconds adrift in fifth.
With Al-Rajhi encountering mechanical problems later in the stage, Jakub Przygonski assumed the mantle of the top Overdrive Toyota driver, narrowly beating the factory-run Yaris of Shameer Variawa to sixth.
Vladimir Vasilyev finished eighth in an X-raid Mini 4x4 ahead of Ford privateer Martin Prokop and Optimus driver Christian Lavieille.
Rally legend Sebastien Loeb’s run of misfortune continued on Monday as he was forced to stop twice in the first 40km, the second time due to a lack of spare tyres after his Prodrive-run BRX1 contender suffered two punctures.