Lategan and Cummings win stage to make Dakar Rally statement

Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings are one step closer to Dakar Rally glory by consolidating their lead with a commanding win on Stage 8 in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) crew completed the 487km timed section between Al Duwadimi and Riyadh in 4:51:54, beating team-mates and runners-up on the day Guy Botterill and Denis Murphy by 1:47. Of greater importance was the 5:20 minutes Lategan and Cummings put between themselves and closest rivals Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, who are in a similar South African-built Hilux T1+ in Overdrive Racing colours.

Dakar Rally lead grows

After starting the day only 21 seconds ahead of Al Rajhi, Lategan now leads the Dakar Rally ahead of second-placed Saudi Arabian by 5:41 in the general classification and third-placed Mattias Ekstrom and Emil Bergkvist (Ford M-Sport Raptor) by 28:55.

Brian Baragwanath and navigator Leonard Cremer finished Stage 8 in fourth place, only five seconds off the podium. The Century Racing CR7 pilot is still 10th in the overall classification.

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Another TGRSA pair, Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet, finished the day in 22nd place to moved up from 37th to 23rd in the Dakar Rally’s general classification.

Hard luck for Giniel

The fourth TGRSA driver, Giniel de Villiers, had to throw in the towel on Stage 6 on Sunday after his co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz suffered damage to his neck. It was a sad way for De Villiers, who took part in the final race, to finish his remarkable Dakar Rally career. He finished every one of the first 21 races he entered and had only finished outside the top 10 once.

South African rider Michael Docherty won the Rally2 category on his KTM on Monday to move up one place to seventh in the overall classification.

Tuesday’s timed section on Stage 9 between Riyadd and Haradh is 357km long, followed by 120km and 275km challenges in the infamous Empty Quarter on Stages 10 and 11 respectively. Stage 12 on Friday consists of short 61km timed section towards the finish line.

Chasing a slice of history

The 30-year-old Lategan, who has led the race since Stage 2, is looking to become only the second South African to win the Dakar Rally after De Villiers did it in a VW Touareg in 2009. Lategan and Cummings can go one step further by becoming the first all-South African crew to stand on the top step of the podium as Von Zitzewitz, De Villiers’ co-driver in 2009, is a German. Their locally-built Hilux will complete the all-Saffer affair.