Auto-motorsport·Motorautosport·14 jan 2025

Dakar Rally 2025: Daily Race Highlights and Rolling Coverage

– Tuesday’s high-speed Stage 9 dash from Riyadh to Haradh served as a link between Saudi Arabia’s capital city and the barren wilderness of the Empty Quarter Desert with five-time Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah scoring his first 2025 Ultimate class stage win in his Dacia Sandrider. The Qatari’s 49th stage win of his illustrious Dakar career puts him 31 seconds behind the Ford Raptor T1+ of Mattias Ekström, who holds third place overall behind new Saudi leader Yazeed Al Rajhi and South African driver Henk Lategan. Al-Attiyah, 54, admitted: “We pushed all day on a very fast stage. Now, we need to do our best on every kilometre.”