WADI AD-DAWASIR: Saood Variawa won the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday in a South African double with Henk Lategan while Nasser Al-Attiyah saw his lead in the general classification reduced to four minutes in the Saudi Arabian desert.
Dacia Sandriders driver Al-Attiyah finished fifth, one minute and 16 seconds behind Toyota SA driver Variawa, 20, who beat factory team Lategan by three seconds on the 483km loop around the southern town of Wadi Ad Dawasir.
The Qatari’s closest rival, Mattias Ekstrom, finished third for Ford in the longest stage of the 48th edition of the rally.
“The car was perfect on a very long stage where it was difficult to keep pace,” Variawa said.
“In the dunes we navigated well while many others got lost. Sometimes we went our own way and maybe that’s where we made the difference. We pushed and overtook other cars. It was difficult in the dust.”
Lategan, runner-up in last year’s Dakar, moved up to third place overall, six minutes and eight seconds behind the leader with five stages remaining before Saturday’s finish in the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
This double was the fourth ever achieved by South African drivers in the car category.
Ford’s Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Sixth, Sébastien Loeb, nine-time world rally champion at the wheel of Dacia, remained in contention and found himself 17 minutes behind his leading teammate.
“We made a small mistake towards the finish and we lost about three minutes,” said Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner. “But hey, I’m really happy with this performance. We didn’t waste a lot of time. I think we did a good job.”
Predictions that this year’s Dakar would be the closest battle yet have been confirmed by the top five in the standings, from three different teams, separated by 10 minutes and 39 seconds.
Reigning Dakar champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia withdrew last week.
In the motorcycle category, Argentinian Luciano Benavides won his third stage victory in four days and took the lead in the general classification for the first time in his career ahead of his Australian teammate and reigning champion Daniel Sanders.
Benavides, who started the day almost five minutes behind, leads Sanders by 10 seconds with American Honda rider Ricky Brabec third and four minutes 47 seconds off the pace.
“These last two stages were a little faster and in these conditions I feel really good, I can read the roadbook very well and make very good decisions,” said Benavides.
The Dakar began in 1978 as a race starting from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital, but moved to South America in 2009 for security reasons. He moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020.
Published in Dawn, January 13, 2026
