Henk Lategan’s (Toyota Gazoo Racing) has been in the lead of the 2025 Dakar Rally almost since the start. The SA driver has been keeping a good pace to manage his lead. However, he lost a chunk of time, through no fault of his own, earlier this week (as you can read here). Keen to set the record straight, Lategan turned up the pace and won stage eight. However, this meant that he was the first man on the road for 2025 Dakar stage 9. This usually results in lost time. Today’s stage was the last of the really long jaunts. Racers had to contend with 357 km of timed section as well as a 232 km liaison section before reaching the overnight stop in Haradh.

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Another Crew Out

Guy Botterill was playing support for his teammate Lategan. He was setting decent times through the stage. However, the man who finished second yesterday had a major shunt late in the day, which left his Hilux no longer able to proceed. Thankfully, the crew were all okay, but they will play no further part in the 2025 edition of the Dakar Rally. Check out the damage in the video below.

Lategan Losing Time

As expected, Lategan leading the way left him exposed to any navigational errors. During an error early in the stage his steed also suffered a puncture, which cost him further time (see video further down). His pace was not as quick as his pursuers and he bled time throughout the stage. His closest pursuers, Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing), Mattias Ekstrom (Ford Raptor) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) were all running through the checkpoints quicker than the South African driver. Each one of the men took the lead at various points during the day.

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Another driver keen on the stage victory was Guillaume de Mevius (X-Raid Mini) was also quite quick as the stage progressed. The Minis showing that they have real pace in the sand that has characterised the last few days. It was clear that Lategan was not in contention for the stage win throughout the day. Al-Attiyah and Al Rajhi were the in-form men, with Ekstrom and De Mevius showing that they are going to keep the rally leaders on their toes.

At the Flag

When all the frontrunner reached Haradh, it was Al-Attiyah who set the quickest time. This is his first stage win with the Dacia Sandrider. The five-time race winner holds an incredible record by taking the stage win today: he is the only driver to have won at least one stage on 18 consecutive editions of the Dakar. By winning with Dacia it is the ninth different vehicle in his own roll of honour. This 49th stage victory in total brings him close to the 50 obtained by both Stéphane Peterhansel and Ari Vatanen, both legends in their own right.

In second place today was De Mevius and third was Al Rajhi. Ekstrom was fourth and Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska had a great run to finish fifth. Lategan was the fastest South African driver in 11th place. His teammate Saood Variawa was 20th. The two are the only remaining entries from Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa after the retirement of Giniel de Villiers earlier in the race and Botterill today.

Click here to check out some highlights from Giniel de Villiers illustrious Dakar Rally career.

A New Leader

Al Rajhi completed the day’s special 12 min 50 sec ahead of Lategan. As a result the Saudi driver has taken over the lead in the general rankings.

Said the Saudi driver: “I am very happy. We did a great job like we planned to. I think we pushed well. We enjoyed it, that’s the most important. I hope everything goes well the next two or three days to win the Dakar… I will fight to win. It won’t be easy, but we will fight to the end. Everything is going well for us”.

Lategan was not happy with his day, as you can see in the video below. Ekstrom had a late puncture which cost him a lot of time. Al-Attiyah now moves to within 31 seconds of the Swede. Top ten below the video.

Standings after 2025 Dakar Stage 9

    1. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) 45 hr 06 min 54 sec
    2. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing)  +07 min 09 sec
    3. Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +24 min 50 sec
    4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) +25 min 21 sec
    5. Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) +56 min 28 sec
    6. Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing) +1 hr 06 min 52 sec
    7. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) +1 hr 44 min 41 sec
    8. Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +01 hr 46 min 07 sec
    9. Joao Ferreira (X-Rain Mini) +02 hr 11 min 02 sec
    10. Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing) +02 hr 31 min 14 min

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