The second half of the no-service marathon stage produced as many surprises as the first half during Stage 10 of the Dakar Rally on Wednesday.
The big news is five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah reclaiming the overall lead alongside co-driver Fabio Lurqion for Dacia Sandriders after starting the day in third place. The Qatari driver finished Stage 10 in second place behind Century Racing French pair Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier.
A sixth-place finish was enough for Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC’s Henk Lategan and navigator Brett Cummings to move up from fourth to second. Lategan is 12 minutes off the lead and 50 seconds ahead of overnight leader Nani Roma.
ALSO READ: Henk Lategan drops to fourth as Roma and Sainz shake up Dakar Rally
Tough day for Ford
The third-placed Spaniard and his factory Ford team-mate and countryman Carlos Sainz, who slipped from second to seventh overall, had a day to forget on the 420km timed section around the dunes of Bisha in Saudi Arabia.
Yet another solid day of racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA saw Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet move up from 11th to 10th in the Dakar Rally classification. Less than six minutes behind the pair is team-mates Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena. They finished fifth on Stage 10 to move up from 15th to 11th overall.
ALSO READ: Close call makes Henk Lategan more determined to win Dakar Rally
Stage 10 winner Serradori’s team-mate Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer had a less successful day, slipping from 14th to 17th on the leaderboard.
Docherty first in class
In the motorbike category, Michael Docherty stormed to a Rally2 stage win on the BAS World KTM. The South African is out of contention in the general classification because of huge time losses in the week of the Dakar Rally.
The leading South African on two wheels is still Bradley Cox. The Sherco Rally Factory man finished 27th, but managed to hold onto his 11th place on the leaderboard.
Henk Lategan out to gain ground
The 346km timed section on Stage 11, the third last of this year’s Dakar Rally, is expected to allow for fast racing with challenges coming the form of intersections, forks and junctions. This should present Lategan and his Toyota GR Hilux with the perfect opportunity to gain ground on Al-Attiyah.
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