RIYADH: Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi won the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally on Saturday with Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah holding the overall lead in the car race.

Toyota driver Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz mastered the testing stage in Saudi Arabia to bounce back after losing over five hours on Friday because of technical problems.

Despite starting in 40th place near the back of the field, Al-Rajhi finished 8min 54sec ahead of Lithuanian driver Vaidotas Zala after the shortened 333km timed special to Al Duwadimi.

The Saudi picked up his third career Dakar stage win and the first one in this year’s race, but remains over five hours behind the overall leader.

Al-Attiyah finished 14th but retains a comfortable lead of one hour and one minute in the overall race. His South African Toyota team-mate Henk Lategan is second overall.

France’s Stephane Peterhansel, a record 14-time winner of the race, crashed out of the 2023 edition on Friday.

Only the cars and trucks were racing with organisers cancelling the stage for motorcycles due to the weather and rider fatigue. The bikes and quads instead took the road to Al Duwadimi.

American Skyler Howes leads the motorcycle classification for Husqvarna, one minute and 55 seconds clear of Australian Toby Price with Argentina’s Kevin Benavides third.

Published in Dawn, january 8th, 2023