Lategan’s Dakar Rally lead is virtually wiped out to a mere 21 seconds

AL DUWADIMI, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Henk Lategan’s lead of the Dakar Rally melted to 21 seconds after a chaotic seventh stage for timings in the Saudi desert on Sunday.

Rally organizers said an incorrect road book note 158 kilometers into the 418-kilometer loop around Al Duwadimi sent some front-runners driving around in circles. For a 20-kilometer section, all gains and losses were struck out.

Lategan was apparently first to find the right course, but after four hours he ended up finishing 15th, nearly 20 minutes behind stage winner Lucas Moraes of Brazil, a Toyota teammate.

Lategan’s closest rivals all placed ahead of him and slashed their deficits to the South African.

Second-placed Yazeed Al Rajhi went from more than seven minutes behind to just 21 seconds. Third-placed Mattias Ekström’s 22-minute deficit dropped to 10. Five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah was more than eight minutes closer at 22 minutes.

“There was one canyon where everybody was getting lost,” Lategan said. “And we were a little bit nervous going into there because you see cars coming from the front and cars coming from all angles out the mountains. And at the end, we went all the way out the canyon and then finally found our way. So we hopped from, let’s say, seventh or so on the road all the way to first. And then we were opening for quite a while.

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“And then we made one or two small navigation errors. We had a puncture earlier on. So, not a bad day. We’re happy to have found that one waypoint, but not the perfect day.”

Moraes rebounded from a mechanical problem on Saturday which cost him 3 1/2 hours and a podium challenge. He was the 27th starter on Sunday and wound up winning his second career stage. The other was in his first Dakar in 2023, when he finished third overall.

“We started so far behind, we were lucky because we definitely got all the tracks for us (to follow),” Moraes said. “We didn’t have nothing to lose today, so we pushed a lot. And nice to win one more stage in the Dakar. These things are really hard to get.”

The Fords of Ekström and American Mitch Guthrie were second and third.

Sanders rides to biggest lead

Meanwhile, Daniel Sanders cemented his motorbike lead by extending it to more than 15 minutes — the biggest gap yet — after winning the stage.

The Australian pulled away from his closest challenger Tosha Schareina of Spain with about 100 kilometers left and powered home by nearly four minutes.

Schareina was second and Pablo Quintanilla of Chile third.

Sanders became the first rider to win five stages in a single Dakar since his countryman Toby Price in 2016.

“It was pretty fast, very fast,” Sanders said. “Technical at the start, we had a lot of rain. But it was only at the start. The speed was good, head was good, so it was a much better day.”

Champions withdraw

Before the stage, two more cars with former champions withdrew.

Dirk von Zitzewitz, the long-time co-driver for 2009 champion Giniel de Villiers, experienced neck pain on Saturday and wasn’t allowed to continue on Sunday morning. That ended De Villiers’ Dakar record streak of 21 successive finishes. He reached the podium eight times.

Also, Price and Sam Sunderland, both two-time motorbike champions competing on four wheels in the Dakar for the first time, withdrew for medical reasons.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing