Fernando Alonso: “For whatever reason I feel more comfortable in the dunes”

Dakar 2020 | Stage 8 | Wadi Al Dawasir > Wadi Al Dawasir
January 13 th 2020 - 13:20 [GMT + 3]

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310 Alonso Fernando (esp), Coma Marc (esp), Toyota Hilux, Toyota Gazoo Ragin, Auto, Car, action during Stage 4 of the Dakar 2020 between Neom and Al Ula, 676 km - SS 453 km, in Saudi Arabia, on January 8, 2020 - Photo Francois Flamand / DPPI
310 Alonso Fernando (esp), Coma Marc (esp), Toyota Hilux, Toyota Gazoo Ragin, Auto, Car, action during Stage 4 of the Dakar 2020 between Neom and Al Ula, 676 km - SS 453 km, in Saudi Arabia, on January 8, 2020 - Photo Francois Flamand / DPPI © DPPI Media

The two-time Formula 1 World Champion has obtained his best result on the eighth special since the start of the Dakar, with a second placed finish behind Mathieu Serradori.

“I don’t know who has come in behind. Obviously, for the guys in front, we beat them. Today we had an amazing day. We had one puncture unfortunately and we lost a little bit of momentum there, but otherwise the stage was nearly perfect and Marc was unbelievable, you know – the dunes, the navigation… Even in the last part, we saw that the guys in front of us were a bit lost and we gained more time even there, so this stage from Marc was magic. Having no bikes changed a lot, especially for the first two or three cars. I think they couldn’t reach the pace of the other days. I benefitted from starting from the back, but as I said, I don’t know who will be coming in in position ten or eleven, but they will have even easier tracks, so let's see. I'm happy to complete the day without any issues. It was a beautiful stage, quite fast with a lot of dunes, so it was good. I think the dunes are harder than tracks, but for whatever reason I feel more comfortable. I'm not coming from the dunes at all but it seems that I can get a good rhythm and a good flow in the dunes and I’m enjoying so far this second week of the Dakar”.

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