01/11/26 08:45:00
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01/11 08:43 CST Lategan's late trouble gifts Dakar Rally stage seven to Ekstrm
Lategan's late trouble gifts Dakar Rally stage seven to Ekstrm
WADI AD-DAWASIR, Saudi Arabia (AP) --- Henk Lategan was cruising to the stage
win and overall lead in the Dakar Rally on Sunday until he hit trouble in the
last section.
Lategan led the final checkpoint 40 kilometers from the end of the
459-kilometer special between Riyadh south to Wadi ad-Dawasir by nearly two
minutes and had the provisional lead in the general rankings by more than two
minutes.
But 10 kilometers later he was at a standstill for 10 minutes for an
undisclosed reason.
Stage seven was gifted to Ford driver Mattias Ekstrm, the first repeat car
winner, and Lategan's Toyota tumbled to 13th place, 8 1/2 minutes back.
After nearly four hours of racing, Ekstrm beat Toyota's Joao Ferreira home by
4 1/2 minutes, followed by Ford teammate Mitch Guthrie. Less than two minutes
covered second place to 10th after the fast, flat sandy track.
Lategan demolished Nasser Al-Attiyah's provisional six-minute overall lead
after about 350 kilometers but ultimately Al-Attiyah's Dacia stayed in front,
Ekstrm replaced Lategan in second and clipped Al-Attiyah's lead to 4:47.
Nani Roma's Ford was elevated to third, 7:15 behind and six seconds ahead of
Lategan, after Roma's 1:10 speeding penalty on stage five was scrubbed by FIA
stewards late Saturday during the rest day. It gave Roma his 14th car stage
victory, one more than he achieved on a motorbike.
Lategan slipped to fourth, down by seven minutes, and four-time champion Carlos
Sainz rounded out the top five.
Benavides blazes
Luciano Benavides blazed the motorbike track, leading at every checkpoint for
his second stage win in this Dakar. Edgar Canet overcame an early navigation
error to rally from 46th place to second and give KTM an unexpected 1-2 finish.
Canet was nearly five minutes behind Benavides and Adrien van Beveren was third.
Defending champion Daniel Sanders' KTM was fourth on the stage but he padded
his overall lead over two-time champion Ricky Brabec from 45 seconds --- the
smallest halfway lead in 10 years --- to 4:25. Benavides in third improved to
only 4:40 behind while Tosha Schareina fell further back to 15 minutes. Nobody
else was within a half-hour of Sanders.
As the Hondas of Brabec and Schareina swept the track, Sanders closed in on
them. He finally caught the leaders with about 150 kilometers to go. Schareina
said he and Brabec made a mistake. Sanders said they waited for him. In any
case, Sanders pulled away so he would take the time bonuses and deny the Hondas.
"We lose a little bit today," Brabec said, "but I think for tomorrow we're in a
lot better position than them (KTM) because (the stage) it's a little bit more
difficult."
Stage eight will be the longest of the race at 481 kilometers, a loop outside
Wadi ad-Dawasir with plateaus and canyons.
Sanders wasn't fazed: "If they want to slow down in the race for tomorrow
because it's a bigger day then that's their strategy. (I'm) just getting warmed
up. I feel good."
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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