Dakar Stage 10 highlights: Sainz adds to lead; Alonso rolls twice, continues

Heavy wind gusts may have shortened the Haradh – Shubaytah stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally, but there still was plenty of action, including a wild double rollover by Fernando Alonso.

Here are some of Wednesday’s highlights:

In the cars class, Carlos Sainz was able to rebuild his commanding lead over Nasser Al-Attiyah, which was shortened to a mere 0:24 at the end of Tuesday’s Stage 9.

Al-Attiyah became lost when trying to find the final checkpoint, surrendering nearly 15 minutes. The defending Dakar champion finished the stage in 17th place.

Jakub Przygonski ended the shortened stage second-fastest, 3:05 behind, while Giniel De Villers finished third, 4:26 back.

Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso finished a disappointing 56th after suffering a double rollover just two kilometers into the stage.

Though not injured in the rollover, Alonso lost a significant amount of time as he and co-driver Marc Coma removed the windscreen from their Toyota.

The duo rolled across the finish line over an hour behind Sainz, and now have dropped from 10th to 14th in the overall standings.

Overall: Carlos Sainz holds an advantage of 18:10 over Nasser Al-Attiyah.

In bikes, Joan Barreda Bort was gifted with the victory when the stage ended prematurely at the 345 km mark due to heavy winds. Meanwhile, overall leader Ricky Brabec finished the stage in second position, 1:07 back, while Kevin Benavides finished third, 2:31 back.

Overall: Ricky Brabec holds an advantage of 25:44 over Pablo Quintanilla.

In side by sides, Mitch Guthrie and Blade Hildebrand finished 1-2 for the second consecutive stage, with Hildebrand coming in 0:25 behind Guthrie. Stage 3 and 6 winner Gerard Farres Guell completed the podium in third, 1:22 back.

Casey Currie came home in seventh position, but continued to build a considerable lead in the overall standings. However, defending champion Francisco Lopez Contardo dropped from second to third overall when he suffered tire puncture that saw him lose over an hour’s time.

Overall: Casey Currie holds an advantage of 46:40 over Sergei Kariakin.

In quads, Kamil Wisinewski topped the charts, finishing 0:48 ahead of Zdenek Tuma, while Rafal Sonik finished 3:42 behind in third.

Overall leader Ignacio Casale had a disappointing day, finishing 16th out of 18 competitors. As a result, his lead over second place shrank by over 25 minutes.

Fortunately for Casale, second-place Simon Viste had a bad day as well, as the Frenchman finished 12th.

Overall: Ignacio Casale holds an advantage of 16:18 over Simon Viste.

In trucks, Anton Shibalov ended Kamaz teammate Andrey Karginov’s streak of four consecutive stage wins, outpacing Dmitry Sotnikov by 1:08 to the 223 km checkpoint.

However, Shibalov’s efforts were only enough to erase approximately two minutes from Karginov’s considerable lead in the overall standings.

Eduard Nikolaev finished third, 1:30 back.

Overall: Andrey Karginov holds an advantage of 36:08 over Anton Shibalov.

Stage Wins:

Cars: [4] Carlos Sainz (Stage 3, 5, 7 and 10), [3] Stephane Peterhansel (Stage 4, 6 and 9), [1] Vaidotas Zala (Stage 1), [1] Giniel De Villiers (Stage 2) and [1] Mathieu Serradori (Stage 8)

Bikes: [2] Toby Price (Stage 1 and 5), [2] Ricky Brabec (Stage 3 and 6), [1] Ross Branch (Stage 2), [1] Jose Ingacio Cornejo (Stage 4), [1] Kevin Benavides (Stage 7), [1] Pablo Quintanilla (Stage 9) and [1] Joan Barreda Bort (Stage 10)

Side-by-sides: [2] Gerard Farres Guell (Stage 3 and 6), [2] Blade Hildebrand (Stage 7 and 9), [2] Mitch Guthrie (Stage 4 and 10), [1] Francisco Lopez Contardo (Stage 2), [1] Aron Domzala (Stage 1), [1] Cyril Despres (Stage 5) and [1] Reinaldo Varela (Stage 8)

Quads: [4] Ignacio Casale (Stage 1, 2, 4 and 9), [2] Simon Viste (Stage 6 and 7), [1] Giovanni Enrico (Stage 3), [1] Romain Dutu (Stage 5) and [1] Kamil Wisinewski (Stage 10)

Trucks: [5] Andrey Karginov (Stage 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9), [3] Anton Shibalov (Stage 1, 4 and 10), [1] Siarhei Viazovich (Stage 2) and [1] Dmitry Sotnikov (Stage 5)

Highlights of Stage 10 will air on NBCSN tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET. The rally runs through Friday.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports

Dakar Stage 10 Highlights: Sainz extends lead; Alonso rolls twice but continues on

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million