Yazeed Al-Rajhi is on the brink of securing the Dakar Rally championship in his native Saudi Arabia, following a remarkable comeback against South Africa’s Henk Lategan. On Thursday, during the penultimate stage of the rally, Lategan began with a leading margin of two and a half minutes over Al-Rajhi. However, after completing a 267-kilometer loop in the sandy terrain east of Shubaytah, Lategan found himself trailing by more than six minutes.
Al-Rajhi, along with his co-driver Timo Gottschalk, was able to erase their time deficit after approximately 100 kilometers and gradually extended their lead in the daunting Empty Quarter dunes. “I trusted myself, I attacked and enjoyed,” remarked Al-Rajhi, expressing his satisfaction with the performance. This would mark Al-Rajhi’s first victory in his 11th Dakar Rally competition, having previously achieved his best finish in third place in 2022. Notably, Gottschalk has prior Dakar experience, having secured a victory in 2011 while supporting five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.
The final stage is scheduled for Friday, a relatively brief 61-kilometer mass start that will return competitors to Shubaytah. Lategan took the result in stride, stating, “There’s not much more we could have done today. I tried my best and at the end we were looking for tracks and opening some of the way with Lucas (Moraes). I’ve never been a sand or dune expert but I’m happy to come through the stage. The car is still in one piece. We made it. It’s amazing. We’ve had a really good Dakar with some ups and downs. Overall, I’m happy with how it went and how it’s going.”
Both Lategan and Mattias Ekstrom from Sweden, currently in third, are poised to achieve their best-ever finishes in the Dakar Rally. Ekstrom, who is 22 minutes behind in the overall standings, strengthened his hold on third place after winning the stage by 41 seconds over Al-Attiyah; he extended his lead to over four minutes, capitalizing on an early double puncture suffered by the Qatari driver. In the stage results, Al-Rajhi finished third, while Lategan took fifth.
In motorcycle categories, Daniel Sanders is also set to claim his first Dakar victory, despite a reduction in his lead over Tosha Schareina, which diminished from 16 and a half minutes to just nine. The stage was shortened to 152 kilometers due to a three-hour fog delay, ensuring that participants wouldn’t finish in darkness. Schareina dominated the stage for nearly the entire two-hour journey, finishing first, with Argentina’s Luciano Benavides trailing in second by 33 seconds. France’s Adrien van Beveren clinched third place, finishing less than a minute behind.
Although Sanders finished the stage in sixth position, he maintained a solid lead overall and appears set to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot and mentor, Toby Price, by emerging as a Dakar champion.
