Danilo Petrucci put yesterday's technical misery behind h✅im by setting the 22nd fastest time as he re-joined the Dakar action on today's Stage 3.

Monday's electrical problem with his factory KTM 450, while battling for a top five position, means the former MotoGP rider will no longer feature in the 🐼event classification.

However, with KTM able to fix his bike after it was returned by helicopter to the bivouac, Petrucci was at least cl🐓eared to continue his debut Dakar adventure, allowing him to build-up valuable knowledge for a future return.

Heavy rain in the Al Artawiyah region saw today's 636km stage shortened to a fast 255km stretch, which ended with✅ the top ten ༺separated by less than five minutes.

Setting off 51st, Petrucci immediately began fighting for a top-20 position, despite the traffic he had to encounter. A small mistake towards the end of the stage cost the Italian a coup🐬le of minutes, but h🦩e still finished a competitive 9mins 21secs behind stage winner Joaquim Rodrigues.

“I’m really happy to be able to continue riding today after the issue I had yesterday. Yes, I’ve lost one stage, but it feels goo♕d ❀to be racing again," Petrucci said.

"I really enjoyed the stage today, the goal was just to get to the end, but it was very fast and really good fun. There were a lot of lines in the sand, but I still tried to reꦏad the roadbo🥃ok and learn more in the way of my own navigation.

"I did make a couple of small mistakes, but it feels so good to be back on the bike. I have nine more stages ඣto continue learning and I’m looking forward to it.”

The 2022 D𓆉ak🍨ar, held in Saudi Arabia, concludes on January 14.