2025 Dakar Stage 2 was a complete mixed bag with drama aplenty for some of the bigger teams (read more here). The massive overnight news coming in ahead of 2025 Dakar Stage 3 was the retirement of Carlos Sainz. The damaged sustained when his Ford Raptor rolled during the first part of the chrono stage was deemed too much for the car to be safe going forward. That means he will not be able to defend his title.

Follow Double Apex on Instagram and Facebook where we share more car content.

2025 Dakar Stage 3 took the competitors away from Bisha for the first time this event. The original stage was supposed to take the racers from Bisha to Al Henakiyah on a 496 km timed section. However, severe storms in Al Henakiyah meant that the stage had to be shortened to 327 km. This new, shorter stage must’ve felt like a breeze after the nearly 1 000 km second stage.

2025 Toyota Dakar Rally advert

Roly Poly

Sainz rolled on stage two and Sebastien Loeb (Dacia Sandrider) did the same on 2025 Dakar Stage 3. The Frenchman went over early in the timed section. Thankfully the driver team were unharmed. They managed to get going again after losing just a few minutes, but came to a halt again later in the stage. He lost over an hour to the rally leaders, but seemed to be on his way to the finish line at the time of writing.

Loeb said afterwards: “At the start of the special, I thought we were on the tracks, but we were to the side. I hit a rutt that turned us sideways and the car rolled. That took the tyres off two wheels, but we managed to sort it out within 5 minutes. There wasn’t so much damage, but after fifty kilometres we broke a steering rod. It’s not a serious problem, but our spare part was with the bits of bodywork that had been ripped off when the car rolled. Cristina stopped to give us one, but after that the front engine fan stopped working, so we drove at SSV pace during almost all the stage. It wasn’t the kind of day we prefer. We lost an hour and we got the feeling that we were in ‘it’ up to our necks… But it is what it is, we just have to continue. We’ll keep on racing and we’ll see, even if winning the rally is starting to look complicated”.

Mixed Field

There was not clear-cut pacesetter through 2025 Dakar stage 3. New names appeared and then were moved off the top of the timesheets. Mattias Ekstrom flew the Ford flag by setting the early pace. With Sainz out of the race the Blue Oval will be looking for a good result, if not a win, from Ekstrom. Early race leader Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) also topped the sheets early in the day.

Another youngster, Saood Variawa was looking to make amends for the unfortunate incident where he crashed into TGR teammate Giniel de Villiers. The team rebuilt his race machine and he was setting quick times through the stage, although now over eight hours off the pace. Another Hilux driver, Lucas Moraes took the provisional lead more than halfway through.

Click here to watch our Pagani Huayra BC drive video.

At the Flag

It was Variawa who proved unbeatable today. The 19-year-old South African claimed his first-ever Dakar stage win, showing that he is a force to be reckoned with in the future. Mini X-Raid driver Guerlain Chicherit was second. Another future star Seth Quintero was third with Guillame de Mevius and Joao Ferreira making it a trio of Minis in the top five. Al-Attiyah was sixth. Giniel de Villiers finished tenth today one spot ahead of Lategan.

“I definitely knew we were flying. There were a lot of places which could catch you out and end your race. We really took it quite easy in the stuff that was very tricky. François was good with the navigation and we were on point everywhere. Towards the end, in the last five kilometres, we hit a big rock and got a puncture, but nonetheless it was a really good drive on our side. It was difficult and we had a moment yesterday, an unfortunate incident with Giniel, but nonetheless, this is a good comeback, so we’re looking forward to the rest of the week,” said Variawa.

Rally leader Henk Lategan (TGR) lost time which allowed Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) to make up more than four minutes on the race leader. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) also lost time, bleeding over ten minutes through the three-quarter way mark. As a result he lost second place in the overall standings to Al-Attiyah who now sits in second place. Ekstrom occupies third place, also taking time out of Lategan’s lead.

Standings after 2025 Dakar Stage 3

    1. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 19 hr 04 min 53 sec
    2. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) +07 min 17 sec
    3. Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +09 min 34 sec
    4. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) +11min 45 sec
    5. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +19 min 40 sec
    6. Toby Price (Overdrive Racing) +20 min 17 sec
    7. Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing) +21 min 15 min
    8. Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) +23 min 40 sec
    9. Joao Ferreira (X-Raid Mini) +32 min 07 sec
    10. Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +35 min 04 sec

Times were correct at the time of publication, full stage results can be found here.