Lategan battled throughout the stage for victory, but had his problems while fighting. “We’ve had a proper, proper Dakar day”, Lategan said afterwards. “It started 10 kilometres from the start when my door broke. It went open and I was driving until the first control point with the door flapping open. Then I managed to solve that, I strapped myself in and couldn’t open the door. Then we had a puncture, so I had to climb out of the navigator’s door and change the puncture. So, we’ve had just the craziest day. It doesn’t make sense. The whole race has been really on top of the world and then right back down to earth. The Dakar has a way of keeping you humble, I think. Today was humbling and I can’t actually believe that we’ve won the stage.

Toyota GAZOO Racing

Two other Toyota GAZOO Racing drivers showed up in the stage top 10. Giniel de Villiers came home in 6th place while overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah took no risks and finished in 7th place. The Qatari is still leading comfortably. Shameer Variawa closed in on another top 20 finish, but just missed out with a P24 on Thursday.

Bernhard ten Brinke

Bernhard ten Brinke did well with another top 15 on the day. “On today’s stage the cars started first, which made it extra difficult to find the way and make speed”, Ten Brinke said. “First part we drove great, a lot of rocky roads. It continued into sand dunes and the last 90 km were off road included navigation work. A proper day in the Dakar.”

Mammoet Team De Rooy Iveco

Martin van den Brink continued his top 10 streak this week. The leader of Mammoet Rallysport finished in P8 on the 6th stage while Mitchel van den Brink came home in P13.

Riwald Dakar Team

Gert Huzink hit some trouble at the end of the stage, but managed to reach to bivouac in Riyadh. He ended in 17th place while Pascal de Baar had a monumental fightback after the struggles on Wednesday. De Baar overtook a lot of trucks and finished in 20th.