Steady Dakar Stage 7 for sore Danilo Petrucci, lead change
After Saturday's rest day, the 2022 Dakar Rally continued in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with Stage 7 of 12.
Competitors faced a challenging 402km timed stage comprising of sand dunes, canyons and riverbeds.
Monster Energy Honda's Jose Ignacio Cornejo was fastest was a time of 3hr 28m 46s, on a day that saw Yamaha's Adrien Van Beveren take over the rally lead from GASGAS competitor Sam Sunderland.
Former MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci, an emotional winner of Stage 5, had hurt his elbow in a heavy accident on Stage 6 - subsequently halted due to the dangerously chewed-up surface left by four-wheel vehicles - and was still riding sore today as he finished 27-minutes behind Cornejo.
Combined with some technical issues and a 23-minute time penalty, Petrucci was pushed outside the top 40 in the Stage standings. But with the Italian already out of overall Dakar contention due to a Stage 2 electrical problem forcing his KTM to be recovered, Petrucci's main priority is to continue learning the specialist event and reach the finish in Jeddah on January 14.
After almost 24-hours of competitive riding, Van Beveren will start Stage 8 with a 5min 12s advantage over Petrucci's factory KTM team-mate Matthias Walkner. But with the top six in the bike category all currently covered by just 6min 34s, much could yet change...
