SA champion Henk Lategan takes Dakar Rally lead after marathon stage
Toyota driver promoted after second stage leaders penalised for exceeding speed limits in the desert
06 January 2025 - 19:23
by Alan Baldwin
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Henk Lategan in the lead of the Dakar Rally after the second stage. Picture: SUPPLIED
Local favourite Yazeed al-Rajhi won the 48-hour second stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Monday, despite a penalty for speeding, as South African Henk Lategan took the overall lead for the factory Toyota team.
Al-Rajhi, driving a non-works Overdrive Racing Toyota, finished the 967km stage 4min 16sec clear of Lategan with Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah third for Dacia.
The Saudi was given a 2min penalty after the finish of the two-day stage, and five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah 4min, for exceeding speed limits in the desert.
That left SA Rally Raid champion Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings, winners of Friday’s prologue to the two-week event, 4min 45sec clear of Al-Rajhi.
Henk Lategan. Picture: SUPPLIED
“This was an unbelievably tough stage. I enjoyed today more than yesterday, when we had to traverse a 200km section of dunes and I had to stop the car as I needed to be sick outside the car, so we lost some time there,” said Lategan, who took over at the top from American teammate Seth Quintero.
“After the dunes cleared, I started enjoying it a bit again.
“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.
“Our road position helped a lot as it made the navigation easier. We slowly managed to catch the guys up front and started driving with the top guys today.
“This morning was very tricky again as we started with only one-minute dust gaps, putting us in the dust from the start.
“We had to be careful as there was so much dust today and one could easily rip a wheel off or get a puncture and fall back, which made it very difficult and which makes this result so much sweeter,” Lategan said.
Australian Toby Price and Britain’s Sam Sunderland, both double winners in the motorcycle category and now teammates on four wheels, moved up to fourth overall with Overdrive Racing.
Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb staged an impressive recovery from lost time due to engine fan problems on Sunday and was in sixth place for Dacia and nearly 19min off the lead.
Defending champion Carlos Sainz, who won with Audi in 2024, and had hoped to be chasing a fifth title with a fifth different manufacturer, was an hour and a half behind Lategan after the 62-year-old flipped his Ford Raptor in the dunes on Sunday.
In the motorcycle category, Australian Daniel Sanders took his third consecutive stage win to take a 12½min lead over American Skyler Howes, with Botswana’s Ross Branch third.
Defending champion Ricky Brabec of the US was in fifth place, 15min behind Sanders.
Tuesday’s stage 3 will involve 495km of special stage and 352km of liaisons as the rally moves from Bisha to Al Henakiyah in the southwest.
On Wednesday, the marathon stage to Alula will follow ahead of stage 5 between Alula and Hail.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
SA champion Henk Lategan takes Dakar Rally lead after marathon stage
Toyota driver promoted after second stage leaders penalised for exceeding speed limits in the desert
Local favourite Yazeed al-Rajhi won the 48-hour second stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Monday, despite a penalty for speeding, as South African Henk Lategan took the overall lead for the factory Toyota team.
Al-Rajhi, driving a non-works Overdrive Racing Toyota, finished the 967km stage 4min 16sec clear of Lategan with Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah third for Dacia.
The Saudi was given a 2min penalty after the finish of the two-day stage, and five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah 4min, for exceeding speed limits in the desert.
That left SA Rally Raid champion Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings, winners of Friday’s prologue to the two-week event, 4min 45sec clear of Al-Rajhi.
“This was an unbelievably tough stage. I enjoyed today more than yesterday, when we had to traverse a 200km section of dunes and I had to stop the car as I needed to be sick outside the car, so we lost some time there,” said Lategan, who took over at the top from American teammate Seth Quintero.
“After the dunes cleared, I started enjoying it a bit again.
“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.
“Our road position helped a lot as it made the navigation easier. We slowly managed to catch the guys up front and started driving with the top guys today.
“This morning was very tricky again as we started with only one-minute dust gaps, putting us in the dust from the start.
“We had to be careful as there was so much dust today and one could easily rip a wheel off or get a puncture and fall back, which made it very difficult and which makes this result so much sweeter,” Lategan said.
Australian Toby Price and Britain’s Sam Sunderland, both double winners in the motorcycle category and now teammates on four wheels, moved up to fourth overall with Overdrive Racing.
Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb staged an impressive recovery from lost time due to engine fan problems on Sunday and was in sixth place for Dacia and nearly 19min off the lead.
Defending champion Carlos Sainz, who won with Audi in 2024, and had hoped to be chasing a fifth title with a fifth different manufacturer, was an hour and a half behind Lategan after the 62-year-old flipped his Ford Raptor in the dunes on Sunday.
In the motorcycle category, Australian Daniel Sanders took his third consecutive stage win to take a 12½min lead over American Skyler Howes, with Botswana’s Ross Branch third.
Defending champion Ricky Brabec of the US was in fifth place, 15min behind Sanders.
Tuesday’s stage 3 will involve 495km of special stage and 352km of liaisons as the rally moves from Bisha to Al Henakiyah in the southwest.
On Wednesday, the marathon stage to Alula will follow ahead of stage 5 between Alula and Hail.
The teams will then enjoy a rest day on Friday.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
KTM financial woes leave Brad Binder’s MotoGP future unclear
Best sports cars of 2024 set pulses racing
Bagnaia keeps title hope alive after Malaysian Grand Prix win
Norris needs to score big in Brazil
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.