YANBU: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah looked set for a sixth Dakar Rally title after the Dacia driver won Friday’s penultimate 12th stage in the Saudi Arabian desert and extended his lead to 15 minutes with 105km remaining.

The stage win was the 50th of the 55-year-old’s career, equalling a record in the car category held by Finnish rally great Ari Vatanen and France’s 14-times Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel.

The rally ends on Saturday outside the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

In the motorcycle category Honda’s American Ricky Brabec returned to the top of the standings after taking a strategic decision on Thursday to drop back and get a better start position.

“To win this stage and to have a good lead now is really amazing,” said Al-Attiyah after the 409km drive over rocks and sand left him on the verge of victory.

“You can lose everything today but we did a good job. One day to go, but we need to be smart and really focused.”

Ford’s Nani Roma remained his closest rival but the Spaniard’s overnight deficit of eight minutes ballooned after he broke his car’s front axle and lost a wheel.

French team-mate Romain Dumas came to Roma’s rescue at the stage finish, providing the parts for the second-placed driver to continue on the link road and reach the overnight bivouac on time and without penalty.

Ford’s Mattias Ekstrom was third overall, 23 minutes and 21 seconds off the lead, with Dacia’s nine times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb a close fourth and ahead of Ford’s Carlos Sainz.

American Mitch Guthrie was second on the stage for Ford, with Australian Toby Price third in a Toyota.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2026