After heading the charge to the overnight stop on the first half of the 48-hour chrono stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, it was Saudi Yazeed Al Rajhi who stood tall on the second half on Monday. South African Henk Lategan brought his Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux home second to take the overall lead.
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After a challenging 48 hours of limited contact with their teams and the outside world, the 2025 Dakar competitors drove a total of 1 058 km, of which 967 was a special stage. Overdrive’s Racing’s Al Rajhi and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk brought their Hilux to the Bisha bivouac 4 minutes 16 seconds ahead of Lategan and compatriot Brett Cummings.
“All in all, I’m happy with the stage, but it was not straightforward, not simple and definitely not without some moments, some errors and mistakes, but I think it’s impossible to do an almost 1 000 km stage without any mistakes. We looked after the car for the stage because we knew it was really, really long. If you don’t look after the car, it won’t look after you. It’s actually a big surprise to be first because we haven’t been really focusing on it. But I’m happy with that. We’ve been playing a more strategic game over these two days, so I’m happy. We’ll probably be closer to the front and the navigation will have to be perfect, so that’s a bit of pressure, but it’s okay,” Lategan admitted.
Qatari five-time Dakar Winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Edouard Boulanger were third fastest on Sunday and Monday’s combined stage, 6 minutes 29 seconds behind the stage winners. The result sees the Dacia Sandriders duo third in the overall rankings. It was a good two days for Overdrive Racing, with Argentinian Juan Cruz Yacopini and Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska managing fourth and fifth fastest.
French WRC legend Sébastien Loeb also clawed back some time in the overall rankings after struggling with engine issues during the first half of the chrono stage for the seventh fastest time, while Swedes Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergvist were eighth quickest over the event.
“We had a big problem with the engine heating because of fan problems. We lost around 40 minutes on the first part of the stage. But since then, it was repaired and we pushed to the maximum. We gained a lot of time back, so we finished the stage 14 minutes from the leader, so it’s not so bad. It was looking much worse yesterday,” Loeb said.
South African racing legend and 2009 Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers and Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Saood Variawa crashed into each other during the second half of the stage, costing them both vital time making repairs in the dunes. The former finished 29th fastest on Monday, 2 hours 19 minutes behind Al Rajhi, while the latter has yet to finish the stage.
On Tuesday 7 January, the field head north from Bisha toward Al Henakiyah in the Al Madinah region of Saudi Arabia and drive a total of 847 km, 495 of which will be special stage.
Overall rankings
- Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 15h 40m 30ss
- Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) 15h 45m 15s
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandriders) 15h 51m 44s
- Toby Price (Overdrive Racing) 15h 52m 14s
- Mattias Ekström (Ford M-Sport) 15h 53m 46s
- Sébastien Loeb (Dacia Sandriders) 15h 59m 26s
- Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 16h 01m 27s
- Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) 16h 04m 03s
- Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Factory Team) 16h 04m 16s
- Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) 16h 04m 27s
