The sixth stage of Dakar 2025 saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings remain in the overall lead of the rally, despite relinquishing 3min 1sec to Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk who are in second place, in their privately entered Toyota Hilux.
The TGR crew suffered a single puncture on the stage of 605km, which took the rally from the Rest Day bivouac at Hail to the town of Al Duwadimi to the south.
Lategan and Cummings completed the stage in the 7th-fastest time, 6min 36sec behind the stage winners. They remain in the overall lead, and now have a buffer of 7min 16sec to Al Rajhi/Gottschalk with six stages remaining in the rally.
Stage 6 saw a solid performance from Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy, in the GR Hilux EVO. The pair has suffered a setback earlier in the race when they lost time due to a mechanical problem, but showed their mettle today by spending most of the day in the lead of the stage.
It was only a small navigational error that precluded them from a stage win, between the final waypoint and the finish. Still, they lost only 3min 25sec on today’s stage.
Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz had the tough task of opening the stage, and while the Californian recorded a clean stage, he lost 13min 3sec to the winners as a result of his road position. The pair are in 8th place overall, 1h 36min 37sec behind the pace set by Lategan/Cummings.
Young gun Saood Variawa and co-driver Francois Cazalet are still finding their rhythm in the dunes, and they also opted for a more cautious approach during the opening sections of Stage 6, which were peppered with rocks. They lost 17min 01sec on the day, and are 8hr 32min 46sec behind the overall lead.
TGR’s veteran duo, Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz finished Stage 6 24min 52sec behind the leaders, after Von Zitzewitz injured his neck while they were traversing rough terrain mid-stage.
This forced De Villiers to slow his pace significantly, and Von Zitzewitz will be undergoing treatment and evaluation at the bivouac. The pair were unfortunate to lose significant time during Stage 2 of the event following a collision, but are maintaining a position in the Top 20, and they are 3h 51min 23sec behind the leaders, provisionally in 20th place overall.
The final GR Hilux EVO pairing of Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon had a torrid time on Stage 6. A problem with one of the dampers on the GR Hilux EVO forced them to a halt early in the stage.
The crew worked to solve the problem, but were forced to wait for their support truck. They lost significant time as a result, tumbling from their 5th place in the overall rankings after Stage 5. The crew lost 2h 58min 37sec on Stage 6, and are now 3h 33min 56sec behind the lead, still in the Top 20.
With the final week of this year’s Dakar Rally now in full swing, the crews will take on Stage 7 tomorrow. This is a looped stage, which starts and finishes at the bivouac in Al Duwadimi. It will be an early start as the first car is leaving the bivouac at 05:40 local time.
A liaison of 188km will bring the cars from the bivouac to the start of the 419km stage, which comprises dirt tracks, sand, dunes and rocks. A liaison of 109km will bring the crews back to the bivouac. The 2025 Dakar Rally will draw to a close on Friday, 17 January, in Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter.
QUOTES:
Henk Lategan: “We knew today maybe we’d lose a little bit of time. The guys up front are going at a proper pace. So no, it’s hats off to them. It was our first day of some real dunes and mostly sandy tracks. So, it was not really our day to push or to make up time. And I think we have a decent road position for the coming days.”
Giniel de Villiers: “Yeah, a long day. Just a long stage. Not a bad stage, quite a beautiful stage. The second part was a lot of dunes. We had a puncture and a bit more serious than that, I think Dirk hurt his neck, so I had to slow the pace significantly. He’ll have to have it checked out and then we’ll see what happens for tomorrow.”
