Dakar Drama Unfolds Al-Attiyah and Al-Rajhi Shake Up Leaderboard

Chaos in the Dakar Rally

A navigation error in the road book has caused chaos in the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally, with several top contenders getting lost at kilometer 158. The favorites, including Al-Attiyah, Ferreira, De Mevius, Baciuska, Botterill, Ekström, Prokop, and Lategan, were among those affected.

The organization quickly acknowledged the mistake and announced that a 20-kilometer stretch of the special stage would be neutralized, and the times in that section would not be taken into account. This decision was made to ensure fairness and prevent any team from being unfairly disadvantaged.

Cristina Gutierrez, one of the drivers who got lost, explained the situation: “There was a moment when we lost 10 cars at least. Pablo found himself very quickly, and we were able to pick up the pace again.”

Reactions from the Drivers

Al-Attiyah was critical of the mistake, saying: “It’s a joke. When you make a road book, you have to do it well, check it several times before racing. It’s a disaster, a very big risk. I don’t know how many cars were there together, we have to reflect on this carefully.”

Despite the chaos, the stage victory went to Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón in their Toyota. However, the real drama unfolded in the fight for the general classification.

After the times were corrected, Henk Lategan, the leader, lost 6:55 to Al-Rajhi, who is now just 21 seconds behind the lead. Lategan also lost 8:24 to Al-Attiyah, who is 21:57 overall. Mattias Ekström, who had a strong stage, is now just 10:25 behind Lategan and in podium positions.