AL DUWADIMI, Saudi Arabia — Henk Lategan and Daniel Sanders maintained their positions as leaders when the Dakar Rally resumed on Saturday, although both recognized the importance of not overexerting themselves ahead of more challenging stages as they traverse the Saudi desert.
After the day’s rest, Lategan, who drives a car, and motorbike leader Sanders showed a level of caution that allowed their closest competitors to close the gap by as much as four minutes during the sixth stage from Ha’il to Al Duwadimi.
South African Lategan finished seventh in the stage, trailing Belgian driver Guillaume de Mévius by six and a half minutes. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al Rajhi, who placed fifth, made up three minutes and is now seven minutes behind Lategan in the overall rankings. Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom experienced a slight setback, losing a couple of minutes and falling to 22 minutes behind in third place, while Qatari competitor Nasser Al-Attiyah advanced by five minutes, still chasing Lategan with a deficit of thirty and a half minutes in fourth.
De Mévius, who surprised many with his second-place finish in last year’s Dakar, saw his fortunes turned when he lost 2 and a half hours last Sunday, followed by another hour on Wednesday. However, he rebounded on Saturday, leading home Joao Ferreira of Portugal for a Mini 1-2 finish, with Al-Attiyah taking third.
“We had a good stage, finally!” De Mévius expressed. “My car still bears a few scars from last week, and today we did a bit of flying, but thankfully we didn’t hit anything.”
On the other hand, his Mini teammate, Guerlain Chicherit from France, had to retire early from the race, marking the end of his 14th Dakar attempt when he flipped his vehicle early on during the stage.
The standings in the motorcycle category encountered significant changes early in the stage as well.
Botswana’s Ross Branch, positioned fourth overall, crashed but fortunately managed to walk away to the airlift. South Africa’s Bradley Cox followed suit, losing control just 100 meters into the start, and ultimately abandoned after an additional 48 kilometers.
Two-time champion Kevin Benavides, currently in 16th place, withdrew ahead of the stage, opting not to risk further injury. Nonetheless, he remained on site to support his brother Luciano Benavides, who was originally awarded the stage five victory on Thursday but lost it to Adrien van Beveren after a successful appeal against a time penalty.
On Saturday, van Beveren navigated the course with skill and secured all available bonus points, finishing second, just 23 seconds behind defending champion Ricky Brabec, who celebrated his first stage win in this year’s Dakar.
With Sanders satisfied with his ninth-place finish, Brabec managed to close the gap to the Australian leader by six minutes, placing him fourth overall, 23 minutes behind. Tosha Schareina of Spain resides in second overall, nearly 12 minutes off the pace, while van Beveren is third, sitting 19 minutes behind the lead.
