RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Toyota’s Henk Lategan snagged his maiden Dakar Rally stage victory Thursday as he outlasted rally legend Sebastien Loeb.
Lategan took the lead of the 421km stage at the second checkpoint. He briefly gave up the lead to Stephane Peterhansel around the 159km mark, but Peterhansel was forced to make an unscheduled stop to help teammate Carlos Sainz Sr. That put Lategan back in front.
Lategan led the remainder of the stage, beating Loeb by just less than two minutes for his first Dakar Rally stage victory.
Overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah struggled to an eighth-place stage finish, but he retained a comfortable 35 minute lead in the standings ahead of Loeb.
Former MotoGP racer Danilo Petrucci grabbed his maiden Dakar Rally stage win in the bike class when Toby Price was handed a speeding penalty. The penalty dropped Price to sixth, allowing Yamaha rider Ross Branch to take second in the bike class.
Sam Sunderland remains the bike class leader by two minutes and 29 seconds ahead of Matthias Walkner.
Team Kamaz Master recorded a superb 1-2-3-4 truck class result, with Andrey Karginov winning Thursday’s stage and Dmitry Sotnikov extending his overall lead.