Rallying-Al-Rajhi closes in on Lategan’s lead

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(Reuters) – Henk Lategan’s overall Dakar Rally lead was cut to seven minutes and 16 seconds as Yazeed Al-Rajhi closed the gap to the South African despite issues with his car, while Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius and Joao Ferreira were the first two to finish stage six in Saudi Arabia.

Five times Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, who was denied a first stage win due to a 10-minute penalty in the previous stage, finished third on Saturday and sits fourth overall with the Renault-owned Dacia brand, trailing Toyota’s Lategan by 30 minutes and 25 seconds.

“A long stage… the dunes weren’t easy, but we did a great job,” Al-Attiyah said after finishing the 829 km route from Ha’il to Al Duwadimi.

Lategan, who finished seventh on the day, said he prioritised safety in the difficult route.

“This morning getting into the first bit of dunes and especially these rough tracks in the dunes was a little bit tricky. We did not push really hard, we tried to be safe today,” he added.

Saudi local favourite Al-Rajhi, who was the rally leader at the half-way point, finished fifth on the day after receiving a spare wheel from Saood Variawa.

“It was not an easy stage. We opened the special for about the first 200 kilometres without taking any risks because we could hear a small noise coming from the back of the car,” Al-Rajhi said.

“It was the hardest first week of my career on the Dakar… today, we were close to the lead, with just a 10-minute gap, which is nothing. In the dunes, we are capable of doing very well.”

Belgian De Mevius was delighted after clinching his first stage win, as he improved to 18th in the overall standings.

“We had a good stage, finally! Our goal was to claw back some time and pick up points for the championship, so we gave it everything we had,” he said.

“My car still bears a few scars from last week and today we did a bit of flying, but thankfully we didn’t hit anything.”

In the motorcycle category, reigning champion Ricky Brabec claimed his first stage win of the race, as he slashed his gap with overall leader Daniel Sanders to 23 minutes and 18 seconds.

Brabec signalled for help when he discovered Ross Branch after a crash. Branch, who was fourth overall, was forced to withdraw from the race with an injury.

“I saw Ross on the ground, pushed the rescue button, saw the helicopter just up ahead landing on the ground,” Brabec said after he improved to fourth in the overall standings.

“But before I even got to Ross, there was police already with them and he was conscious. So yeah, once I did that, kept going on my way.”

Stage seven of the Dakar Rally will take place on Sunday.

(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)