Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ dreams of leading the 2026 Dakar Rally were crushed by a damper failure in the final 50 kilometres of Sunday’s seventh stage, allowing Nasser Al-Attiyah to reclaim the overall lead in the world’s toughest motor race.
The South African crew in their Overdrive Toyota Hilux had dominated the 459-kilometre stage through varied sandy tracks and dunes en route to Wadi ad-Dawasir, moving ahead of five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah into the virtual overall lead.
However, their mechanical drama in the closing stages handed victory to German factory Ford Raptor duo Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist, who became the first driver to win more than once in 2026.
Lategan’s heartbreak hands Attiyah advantage
Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin’s Dacia Sandrider now lead overall by almost five minutes from Ekström, with Spanish veteran Nani Roma third. Lategan sits seven minutes adrift in fourth position.
The Qatari had led the field away at the start of the second week, but Lategan relentlessly piled on the pace to grab the virtual lead at the 339km eighth waypoint before disaster struck.
Portuguese crew João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro finished second on the day in their SVR Hilux, followed by American factory Ford Raptor pairing Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch.
Other South African crews faced a challenging day, with Guy Botterill and Saood Variawa’s Toyotas finishing 14th and 15th respectively, while Brian Baragwanath brought his Century home 22nd. Overall, Variawa sits 12th, Botterill 17th and Baragwanath 21st.
KTM dominance continues in bike race
In the motorcycle category, KTM tightened its grip on proceedings as Argentine Luciano Benavides dominated the stage for his second win of the race. His teammate and defending champion Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders delivered an epic ride to finish third and treble his overall lead margin.
South African Michael Docherty may be out of overall contention, but he scored his fifth Rally 2 victory of the race with sixth place on the day.
Durban’s Bradley Cox continued his strong showing on his Sherco, sitting seventh overall, while Motswana Ross Branch returned to form with seventh on the day to ride eighth overall.
Looking ahead
Monday brings the longest special stage of Dakar 2025 – a gruelling 481km loop around Wadi ad-Dawasir that could prove decisive in both the car and bike categories.
With 65 of the original 72 Ultimate cars and 99 of 115 bike starters still in the hunt, the second week promises more drama as competitors battle the Arabian Desert’s unforgiving terrain.
