RIYADH: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah will lead the Dakar Rally into its second and final week after winning the sixth stage in the Saudi Arabian desert on Friday to take over at the top from South African rival Henk Lategan.

Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner now competing for the Dacia Sandriders, had been second overnight but turned a deficit of more than three minutes into a six-minute-and-10-second advantage over the 326km timed stage between Hail and Riyadh.

Saturday is a rest day before the rally resumes in Riyadh on Sunday with seven more stages to the finish in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on Jan 17.

Al-Attiyah won Friday’s stage by two minutes and 58 seconds from team-mate and nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Dacia’s first Dakar one-two, with Toyota’s American Seth Quintero third.

Overall, three different manufacturers filled the podium positions with Toyota’s Lategan second and Ford’s Nani Roma third — his first time on the virtual podium since 2019.

Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time.

Friday was his career 49th stage win in the car category — one off the record held jointly by Ari Vatanen and ‘Mr Dakar’ Stephane Peterhansel.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz, father of the Formula One driver and a four-time Dakar winner still racing hard at the age of 63, was in fourth place for Ford with team-mate Mattias Ekstrom fifth and Loeb sixth.

American Mitch Guthrie, stage winner on Thursday for Ford, dropped to seventh from sixth.

In the motorcycle category there was no change at the top, although leader and defending champion Daniel Sanders was handed a six-minute penalty for riding at 98kph in a zone limited to 50kph.

KTM rider Sanders now leads Honda’s American Ricky Brabec, the stage winner after the Australian’s penalty, by 45 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides more than 10 minutes behind in third.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster all day. Unfortunately, I got a speeding penalty, so that will set me back a bit,” said Sanders.

“I just pushed as much as I could today but its hard to do good in the sand, especially opening. I did the best I could and Ive got to stop making silly mistakes. I haven’t pieced this first week together so well.”

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026