Fernando𒊎 Alonso recorded his best stage finish so far in the Dakar Rally on Monday with second place, four minutes off day victor Mathieu Serradori.

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso dropped out of contention for overall honours for his Dakar debut on the second stage after hittinꦡg a rock, causing damage that﷽ co꧅st the Spaniard and Toyota co-driver Marc Coma two-and-a-half hours.

Alonso clawed his way back up the order with a number of solid finishes in theꦅ following days, but hit a new height on Monday as he managed to take P2 on the 477 km stage at Wadi ad-Dawasir.

The res❀ult lifted Alonso and Coma up to 13th in the overall classification, and the duo now sit less than five minutes off a plaꦰce in the top 10.

It marks a considerable achievement for Alonso, who initially set out seeing his Dakar debut as an “enriching experience” instead of contending t🌄owards the frꦜont of the running order.

Serradori and co-driver Fabian Lurquin🎀 took their maiden Dakar stage win in their Century Buggy for SRT Racing, while Orlando Terranova and Bernardo Graue completed the podium for the day in third place in the X-Raid Mini.

Carlos Sainz Sr. remains the o✨verall leader of the Dakar Rally despite finishing down in 15th on the sta🦋ge, 19 minutes off Serradori.

Second-placed Nasser Al-Attiyah 💯and Matthieu Baumel took four minutes out of Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz’s lead, placing 11th, but remain 6m40s off the fro✨nt.

All motorbike and quad racing was cancelled on Monday following the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:death of Pa🌠ulo Gonçalves on Stag𝓀e 7.