YANBU (Saudi Arabia) — Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom claimed victory in stage seven of the Dakar Rally as the second week in Saudi Arabia got underway, with dramatic late developments for Toyota’s Henk Lategan, while Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah maintained his overall lead in the car category.
South African Lategan had looked poised to secure both the stage win and the overall lead but saw his chances slip at the final checkpoint.
Ekstrom, who won the prologue in a Ford Raptor, became the first driver in the top car category to claim more than one stage this year.
Lategan had been ahead after 417 of 459km from Riyadh to Wadi Ad Dawasir but finished eight minutes 35 seconds behind Ekstrom after a 10-minute stop at the 428km mark.
“It was really, really, really difficult, one of the most difficult stages I’ve had to open,” said Lategan according to Reuters.
“There were no bike tracks and a lot of the tracks were really, really small tracks. The rain washed a lot of them away,” Lategan added.
Ekstrom moved up to second overall, four minutes and 47 seconds behind Dacia Sandriders’ five-times Dakar winner Al-Attiyah with Lategan third.
Spaniard Nani Roma was fourth for Ford after being reinstated by stewards late to be winner of stage five and having a one minute and 10 second penalty rescinded.
In the motorcycle category, Australian Daniel Sanders extended his lead over American rival Ricky Brabec to four minutes and 25 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides a further 15 seconds adrift.
Sanders had been a mere 45 seconds clear after sixth stage but Honda’s Brabec finished the 459km stage 10th to the Australian’s fourth.
Argentine Benavides won the stage, his second triumph of the event, in a one-two for the Red Bull KTM factory team with Spaniard Edgar Canet, while Honda’s French challenger Adrien Van Beveren was third.
The Australian is now two minutes and two seconds clear of Honda’s Brabec. “It was really important to not destroy the tyres… so I just took it easy in the middle part and just got through to the end, really,” said Sanders.
“I’m just happy to not lose too much time and manage the situation because it could have ended the race.”
Spaniard Tosha Schareina, the overnight leader for the factory Honda team, dropped to fourth overall after collecting a 10-minute penalty for failing to depart the bivouac between marker flags.
Guthrie ended the loop starting and finishing with a 26 second overall lead over Czech driver Prokop with Sweden’s Ekstrom third.
“We started at the back and (co-driver) Kellon (Walch) killed it with the navigation,” said Guthrie.
