Bikes
In the bikes’ category, the Stage 6 starting order was reversed. That means that Pablo Quintanilla, who won Stage 5, started last.
Heartbreaking news was not too late to come, with Skyler Howes exiting the Rally after a mechanical problem just after 39 km. He was not the only one with issues, as Quintanilla lost a lot of time after running out of fuel after 184 km. He was not far from a refueling point, but he lost more than an hour due to that.
At the first checkpoint, Ricky Brabec was the leader, ahead of Adrien Van Beveren and Quintanilla (who later suffered the aforementioned fuel issue). At km 245, the top 2 remained the same, with Toby Price jumping into P3. Then, after 398 km, Van Beveren took the lead of the stage, with Brabec falling down to second and Price remaining third. The gaps were 12″ and 2′ 25″.
When the clock struck 4 PM (local time), the riders had to stop and reach the nearest bivouac, where they would spend the night before resuming the special 48-hour Chrono the day after. Van Beveren was first, 1′ 21″ ahead of Brabec and 1′ 49″ ahead of Price.
During day 2 of the 48-hour Chrono, Joan Barreda left the race due to mechanical issues.
Meanwhile, Van Beveren managed to win the two-day stage ahead of Price and Brabec by 4′ 13″ and 5′ 02″. It was a close race until the end.
In the general standings, Brabec leads Branch and Van Beveren by just 51 seconds and 9′ 21″.
Quads
Manuel Andujar started off strong, leading the way ahead of Alexandre Giroud. The latter was starting to close around km 107 when he was just 45″ behind. Marcelo Medeiros was third, 4 minutes behind.
90 km later, Giroud became the new leader of the stage, 1′ 12″ clear of Andujar. Medeiros reduced his gap to 3′ 45″. The Argentinian and the Frenchman continued battling hard until km 311, where Andujar was the leader once again, but just less than a minute ahead.
After the riders stopped at 4 PM, Giroud regained the lead, and at km 424 he was more than 2 minutes clear of Andujar.
After resuming the stage, Giroud completed the job done the day before. He was only 29 seconds faster than Manuel Andujar. In the virtual general rankings, Andujar is still the leader with an 18′ 54″ gap over Giroud, and 44′ 20″ clear of Medeiros.
Cars
The first plot twist hit the car’s category just after 51 km. Yazeed Al-Rajhi crashed and had to exit Stage 6. That meant that Carlos Sainz gained the lead in the general standings.
The latter was also leading the stage after 99 km. He was 17″ ahead of Stéphane Peterhansel and 1′ 18″ in front of Mattias Ekström. It was an all-Audi top 3.
After 190 km, Sainz was still ahead, with Ekström in second and Sebastien Loeb in third. Peterhansel, who was previously in P3, had mechanical issues at km 225.
At km 295, Sainz still did not give up his lead. Ekström was second with a 3′ 30″ gap, and Loeb was third, 5 minutes behind. Al Attiyah, the Stage 5 winner, was trailing by 21 minutes.
Meanwhile, Peterhansel explained his issues throughout the stage: “We had a puncture and the hydraulic jack system started playing up. We don’t have a hand jack so we don’t know how we’re going to change the wheel. With the damage to the hydraulic system, I’ve lost the power steering and I don’t know how we will manage to pull through”.
After everybody stopped, Sainz was 4′ 31″ clear of Ekström. Loeb was third, 5′ 19″ behind. The Spaniard was also the leader in the general standings by just less than 16 minutes.
The second day was a nightmare for Al Attiyah. He stopped due to mechanical issues and lost around 2 hours 45 minutes. He managed to resume the race, but his position in the standings was compromised.
Meanwhile, Loeb won the stage, overtaking Sainz right at the end. The Spaniard was 2′ 01″ behind, and Esktröm finished third, almost 11 minutes back.
Sainz was still the leader in the general standings, 20′ 21″ ahead of Esktröm and 29′ 31″ in front of Loeb.