2025 Dakar Stage 3 saw another leading player roll his race machine. You can read about and watch Sebastien Loeb’s accident at this link. The FIA deemed that the Frenchman’s Dacia Sandrider sustained too much damage to continue. As a result Loeb was forced to retire ahead of 2025 Dakar Stage 4. The nine-time WRC champ’s hopes of winning his maiden Dakar Rally will now be postponed for another year. He will join Carlos Sainz, who rolled earlier in the race, as mere spectators for the remainder of the event.

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2025 Dakar Stage 4 took place from the overnight stop at Al Henakiyah on a 415 km timed section to end in Al Ula. It is the first part of a two-day ‘marathon’. What this means is that competitors end in the service park and are not allowed outside assistance. The car competitors can help out each other in the overnight camp. And some do in the spirit of the Dakar. The second part of the marathon will take place on stage 5. The lack of outside help will, no doubt, have been a factor for many crews ahead of the start and during the stage. That same factor could also have played into the hands of those further down the field who had nothing to lose, and decided to take more risks.

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Mechanical Woes

With, essentially, two days of racing ahead the pace during the early part of the stage was slightly sedate. Some teams quickly climbed up the timesheets as others worked our how much to push. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) was the first of the frontrunners to suffer from mechanical issues. The Qatari driver stopped early in the stage. He got going again only to grind to halt. He waited for assistance from teammate Cristina Gutierrez. The two crews worked together to fix the stricken machine, but the sent the former winner tumbling down the order.

“We didn’t have many problems —just one! Actually, we stopped once for a puncture and then again because we broke a rear suspension arm. We had to wait for Cristina, who gave us hers, and then we repaired it and got going again… What else could we do? That’s just how it is. Now the car is fine and we’ll have to adapt tomorrow and next week. My only option is to attack,” said the Qatari after the day’s racing.

Another who struggled was yesterday’s stage winner Saood Variawa. The Hilux driver became the youngest-ever winner in this class. His elation lasted a day as his stop also cost him dearly. He lost almost 45 min to the fastest men on the stage. Another Dakar 2025 stage winner, Seth Quintero, lost over an hour in the latter part of the day.

Keeping Up.

Today was all about the Toyotas as rivals struggled to keep pace with the SA-made Hiluxes. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) started the day as the overall race leader. This has placed a target on the South African’s back as the field tries to claw back time to the leader. Lategan had a good run, but the man on form was Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing). The Saudi driver set the pace through the latter part of the day, regularly sitting atop the timesheets. Another Toyota driver who was having great stage was Lategan’s teammate Giniel de Villiers. The 2009 winner climbed as high at 4th position on stage.

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At the Flag

But there was just one man to beat today, the local lad Al Rajhi. He set the fastest provisional time at the finish of the special. The Saudi wrapped up the stage with 4 min 51 sec to spare over Lategan. As a result he closed the gap to the South African who has an overall lead now of just 6 min 54 sec. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) was credited with third place, making it a clean sweep for Toyota.

Al Rajhi said afterwards: “It was a tough stage for everyone. We had three punctures, so we had to take it easy for the last 50 km, without any spares left. It’s important to win the stage, because at the halfway point, we really decided to go for it. In the end, we’re in a good position and we’ve narrowed the gap at the top of the standings, but there are still eight days of racing left. Tomorrow we’ll be opening the road, so it’ll be different, but it will be in the sand, and I think it will be easier to follow the tracks.”

The privateer Ford of Martin Prokop was fourth ahead of Denis Krotov in one of the X-Raid Minis. Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing) was shown as ninth place with Giniel de Villiers in 11th. Al-Attiyah came home 16th, 33 min adrift of the leader. There has been another reshuffle of the overall standings as Al-Attiyah falls down the order as does Seth Quintero. Additionally, there are some new, relatively unknown, names now in the top ten such as Mannama. Baragwanath, the second South African on the overall standings sits in 11th De Villiers climbs up to 15th overall.

Standings after 2025 Dakar Stage 4

    1. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 23 hr 36 min 24 sec
    2. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) +06 min 54 sec
    3. Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +21 min 40 sec
    4. Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing) +30 min 25 min
    5. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +33 min 25 min
    6. Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) +34 min 09 sec
    7. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) +35 min 53 sec
    8. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) +41 min 10 sec
    9. Joao Ferreira (X-Raid Mini) +01 hr +11 min 07 sec
    10. Urvo Mannama (Overdrive Racing) +01 hr +17 min 36 sec

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