Sunday’s return to competition in the 46th Dakar Rally saw competitors tackle the terrain from Riyadh to Al Duwadimi, clocking in at a whopping 874 kilometers.
Nacho Cornejo turned out to be a master of all trades in the seventh stage, posting the fastest time of the day in the motorbike special.
The Chilean has pulled off this feat nine times in his career, three this year, including last Sunday, when the race headed to Al Duwadimi from AlUla.
Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb opened the road and never looked back in the Ultimate category, producing a stellar performance to clinch victory for the third time this year and crank up the heat on Carlos Sainz. Lucas Moraes and Nasser Al Attiyah completed the podium.
Sainz still holds a 19-minute lead in the overall standings.
In the challenger class, Mitchell Guthrie holds a commanding lead of over 33 minutes. Rokas Baciuska and Saleh Al Saif run second and third.
Martin Macík leads the truck category after his fourth stage win and third in a row. He leads Mitchel Van Den Brink and Ales Loprais.
Alexandre Giroud took the win in quads to move to six minutes, 20 seconds ahead of Manuel Andújar in the overall standings. Andújar suffered a 15-minute penalty for missing a waypoint.