FILE PHOTO: Rallying - Dakar Rally - Stage 7 - Al Duwadimi to Al Duwadimi - Saudi Arabia - January 12, 2025 IMT Evo Toyota Gazoo Racing's Henk Lategan after the stage in the bivouac REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
SHUBAYTAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Toyota's South African Henk Lategan regained the overall lead in the Dakar Rally on Wednesday with a two minutes and 27 seconds advantage over Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al-Rajhi going into the penultimate stage.
Lategan, who lost top spot to Al-Rajhi after Tuesday's race having held the lead since stage two, finished 24th in the shortest stage so far, a 120km ride in the dunes between Haradh and Shubaytah, but was over nine minutes ahead of his rival.
It was a strategic race by Lategan, gaining enough time to retake the lead but not wanting to finish too high up in the 10th stage and avoid starting at the front in Thursday's stage to benefit from the tyre tracks of the early starters.
"It wasn't the plan to go quickly today. We were actually going at a very nice and steady pace," Lategan said.
"Hopefully, there are some other guys behind us that were a little bit quicker so that they can open tomorrow."
Spain's Nani Roma, twice a Dakar winner, took the victory in stage 10, his first stage success since 2015, with the Ford driver finishing 18 seconds ahead of Brazil's Lucas Moraes, winner of stage seven.
In the motorcycle category, South Africa's Michael Docherty took the stage win, while overall leader Daniel Sanders of Australia stretched his advantage over nearest rival Tosha Schareina of Spain to 16 minutes and 31 seconds.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris)
