RALLYING – Henk Lategan’s overall Dakar Rally lead was cut to seven minutes and 16 seconds as Yazeed Al Rajhi closed the gap to the South African despite issues with his car, while Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius and Joao Ferreira were the first two to finish stage six in Saudi Arabia.
Five times Dakar winner Nasser Al Attiyah, who was denied a first stage win due to a 10-minute penalty in the previous stage, finished third yesterday and sits fourth overall with the Renault-owned Dacia brand, trailing Toyota’s Lategan by 30 minutes and 25 seconds.
“A long stage... the dunes weren’t easy, but we did a great job,” Al Attiyah said after finishing the 829 km route from Ha’il to Al Duwadimi.
Saudi local favourite Al Rajhi, who was the rally leader at the half-way point, finished fifth on the day after receiving a spare wheel from Saood Variawa.
“It was not an easy stage. We opened the special for about the first 200 kilometres without taking any risks because we could hear a small noise coming from the back of the car,” Al Rajhi said.
In the motorcycle category, reigning champion Ricky Brabec claimed his first stage win of the race, as he slashed his gap with overall leader Daniel Sanders to 23 minutes and 18 seconds.
&uuid=(email))