David Ledbitter

Ha’il – Al Duwadimi Stage 605km (including 171km transfer), liaison 224km Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel broke Toyota’s stranglehold on the 2025 Dakar Rally, winning the sixth stage in their X-Raid Mini JCW beating their diesel-powered X-Raid Portuguese teammates Joao Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro by 1:43 in the process. The delighted Belgian said: “For […]

RelatedPosts Mini 1–2 breaks Toyota’s Dakar stranglehold 13 hours ago Sebastian Loeb out of Dakar 4 days ago Toby Price and Sam Sunderland have withdrawn from the Dakar Rally in near identical circumstances to those of Giniel de Villiers yesterday. On Stage 5, Sam suffered a concussion, which worsened on Saturday following a new impact. […]

Giniel de Villiers, the winner of the 2009 Dakar Rally and boasting 21 consecutive finishes on his record, has been forced to retire from the Dakar.

Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon became the sixth different winner from seven stages in what turned out to be a chaotic stage from a timing point of view, hence the word “provisional” as standings could well change before the sun sets over Saudi Arabia.

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings put their disappointment from Sunday, where their overall lead was cut from over 23 minutes to 21 seconds behind them to grab stage eight by the scruff of its neck and lead the way home to a 7’41” gap over their nearest title rivals. The Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa duo has lead the Dakar since stage two and while their overall advantage might be described as slender, it’s still all to play for over the final four stages.

M-Sport Ford has announced that Mārtiņš Sesks and Renārs Francis will compete in six rounds of the World Rally Championship this season behind the wheel of a Rally1 Ford Puma. The 25-year-old Latvian’s first event is Rally Sweden next month, followed by Portugal, Sardinia, Greece, Estonia and Finland. Sesks stunned fans and peers alike with […]

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger won stage nine, becoming the eighth different winner to date and earning the Dacia Sandrider its first stage win of the rally.

Stage ten may have been ‘only’ 120km, but it comprised 96% dunes, and these weren’t little heaps of sand but full-fat dunes where Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi, the overall leader after Tuesday’s stage, should have been right at home.

Strategy came into play on the penultimate stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally.

On home soil, or rather sand, Yazeed Al Rajhi has become the first Saudi driver to win the Dakar in the Ultimate class. Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk won their first Dakar Rally, much to the delight of the Saudi fans. With a lead of 6’11” going into the Dakar’s final short stage, no heroics were expected from the home hero and none were forthcoming.