Toyota’s Lucas Moraes beat Ford rival Mattias Ekstrom to attain victory on Stage 7 of Dakar Rally, as Henk Lategan’s benefit was virtually totally eradicated.
Opponents confronted a shorter 418km take a look at round Al Duwadimi on Sunday, with the organisers having adjusted the route and the beginning timing to make sure medical helicopters may very well be deployed.
A shock bout of rain made the terrain even more durable to deal with, whereas a roadbook error on the 158km mark meant a number of drivers misplaced their approach, forcing Dakar to successfully neutralise a 20km stretch in the midst of the stage.
Moraes emerged from the chaos to take a dominant 7m41s victory in his Toyota Hilux, bouncing from a mechanical situation on Saturday that had value him over three hours and thrown him out of competition for the general win.
Ekstrom had led on the first checkpoint of the day however progressively slipped to fourth place, behind Moraes, Century’s Matthieu Serradori and his personal team-mate Mitch Guthrie Jr. However the Swede was capable of regain misplaced floor because the stage progressed, ultimately recording his greatest end of Dakar 2025 in second.
He was carefully adopted by Guthrie Jr, the American rounding off a robust displaying for Ford in third.
This was after Dakar up to date the ultimate instances of numerous drivers who have been caught out by the error within the roadbook and have been initially proven a lot decrease down the order.
5-time occasion winner Nasser Al-Attiyah had at one level misplaced over 40 minutes to stage winner Moraes, however after a correction from Dakar he was labeled fourth and solely 11m15s off the tempo.
#200 The Dacia Sandriders Dacia: Nasser Al-Attiyah, Boulanger Edouard
Picture by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool
Toyota driver Seth Quintero and Dacia team-mate Cristina Gutierrez completed a minute again in fifth and sixth respectively, whereas Yazeed Al-Rajhi was as soon as once more the highest runner for the client Overdrive squad in seventh.
Denis Krotov led Mini’s cost in ninth, behind one other Toyota of Stage 3 winner Saood Variawa.
Total chief Lategan had a tough day aboard his manufacturing facility Hilux as he misplaced quarter-hour and slumped to fifteenth within the stage classification.
This implies the seven-minute lead he had coming into the stage has almost been worn out, with Al-Rajhi closing in inside 21 seconds of him regardless of having a median day of his personal.
Ekstrom can be now solely 10 minutes adrift of Lategan, whereas Al-Attiyah has likewise lowered his deficit to 21m57s with 5 phases remaining.
Guthrie Jr and Serradori even have an outdoor shot at victory, each trailing the South African by lower than an hour after Sunday.
Dakar 2025 – Outcomes after Stage 7 (Prime 10)
Pos
Driver
Automobile
Time/Hole
1
Henk Lategan
Toyota
33h43m58s
2
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Toyota
21s
3
Mattias Ekstrom
Ford
10m25s
4
Nasser Al-Attiyah
Dacia
21m57s
5
Mitch Guthrie Jr
Ford
40m01s
6
Matthieu Serradori
Century
54m20s
7
Juan Cruz Yacopini
Toyota
1h13m05s
8
Seth Quintero
Toyota
1h28m32s
9
Joao Ferreira
Mini
1h58m25s
10
Brian Baragwanath
Century
2h07m38s
Pictures from Dakar Rally Stage 7
On this article
Be the primary to know and subscribe for real-time information e mail updates on these subjects
Subscribe to information alerts
