Toyota GAZOO Racing is leading the overall standings with Nasser Al-Attiyah and the two-time Dakar Rally winner opened up his lead even further on Friday. Despite finishing in P9, his lead in the overall standings went up further to a massive 48 minutes. There was more positive news from the Toyota factory racing team as Shameer Variawa finished inside the top 10 for the first time. The South African gained a lot of time in the second part of the stage and ended up in 7th place. Giniel de Villiers finished in P14. His time penalty has been lifted and he is now in 4th place in the general classification. Henk Lategan rounded out the opening six days with a 35th place finish.

Bernhard ten Brinke

Bernhard ten Brinke wasn’t supposed to start the Dakar Rally, but grabbed the challenge with both hands and it paid off in the end. Ten Brinke finished in 6th place on the last stage before the rest day, his best result of the week. “Amazing stage today”, Ten Brinke said. “Very fast tracks and a lot of navigation work to do, but Sébastien did a great job. Finished on P6. We are on fire.”

Mammoet Team De Rooy Iveco

Martin van de Brink peaked also on stage 6, he finished in P5 after a solid drive all the way through. Van den Brink only lost 5 minutes on the 345 kilometer long stage and was the best of the rest. His son Mitchel van den Brink also had his best day of the rally with P11.

Riwald Dakar Team

Gert Huzink bounced back after a few difficult days with a P6 on stage 6. Pascal de Baar also finished his comeback within the top 15 and has a decent starting position for Sunday, when the Dakar Rally continues.