Home Sport live Motorsport Al Rajhi seizes the Dakar Rally lead following tough stage for Lategan

Al Rajhi seizes the Dakar Rally lead following tough stage for Lategan

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Al Rajhi seizes the Dakar Rally lead following tough stage for Lategan

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HARADH, Saudi Arabia — Local competitor Yazeed Al Rajhi has seized the lead in the Dakar Rally, capitalizing on a challenging stage faced by South Africa’s Henk Lategan in the arid expanse of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Lategan had maintained his position at the forefront of the event for the previous week; however, a series of misfortunes during the intense 357-kilometer ninth stage, stretching from Riyadh to Haradh, saw his substantial lead of more than five minutes over Al Rajhi diminish into a significant seven-minute deficit.

With only two days and approximately 400 kilometers of rugged terrain left in the Empty Quarter, the competition is heating up. The last day, scheduled for Friday, will merely be a ceremonial drive concluding at Shubaytah.

Al Rajhi, like his rival Lategan, has yet to claim a Dakar title. This marks the Saudi’s 11th attempt at the rally, achieving his best result with a third-place finish in 2022. He has held second place since last Wednesday, suggesting that the battle for the title may be limited to him and Lategan.

Mattias Ekström from Sweden and Qatar’s five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah are trailing approximately 25 minutes behind in third place.

“It’s a bit of a disaster, to be honest,” Lategan commented on the day’s challenges. “We lost our way about 13 kilometers in, thinking we had missed the waypoint, but we had it all along. That misstep led to a puncture, and then we suffered another flat tire toward the end. It was a chaotic day for us, but it’s not over; we’re still in the race.”

Lategan and his navigator, Brett Cummings, finished the stage in 11th place, while Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk secured a more favorable third position.

“We executed our plan well,” Al Rajhi remarked. “We pushed hard and enjoyed the experience, which is most important. I hope to continue this momentum over the next few days to secure a Dakar victory… I will fight to win, but it certainly won’t be a walk in the park.”

Al-Attiyah triumphed in the stage, finishing just ahead of Belgium’s Guillaume de Mévius in under three hours. This accomplishment allowed him to close the gap, placing him just one minute shy of the third spot overall.

Notably, his 49th win in the car category of the Dakar, and the first for the Romanian manufacturer Dacia, brings him just one victory away from tying the record held jointly by Finland’s Ari Vatanen and France’s Stéphane Peterhansel.

In the motorcycle category, Australian rider Daniel Sanders expanded his lead to nearly 15 minutes after his nearest rival, Spain’s Tosha Schareina, experienced a crash early in the race.

Schareina’s Honda struck a rock, causing him to crash just 20 kilometers into the stage. Although he resumed racing, the nearly four minutes he finished behind Sanders ultimately affected his position in the overall standings.

Schareina’s teammate, Adrien van Beveren from France, holds on to third place, while Sanders’ KTM teammate, Luciano Benavides of Argentina, bolstered his fourth place by clinching his second consecutive stage win.

Benavides, who managed to earn nearly five minutes in time bonuses for opening the track, overcame Van Beveren by nearly two minutes and marked a repeat of his victory in Haradh from two years ago. Sanders finished third after initially leading until approximately 70 kilometers remained.

“I only lost my way a couple of times, which cost me a bit of time,” Sanders stated. “I could have gone a bit faster but overall, I’m satisfied with how it went.”

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