Nasser Al-Attiyah believes buggy competitors at the Dakar Rally have an inherent advantage over his Toyota Gazoo Racing squad ahead of the showdown in his victory battle with Stephane Peterhansel. The three-time Dakar winner trimmed overall leader Peterhansel’s advantage by 49 seconds on Stage 10, finishing second to Yazeed Al Rajhi on the stage, to

Overdrive Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi took top honours in Stage 10 of the Dakar Rally on Wednesday, as Nasser Al-Attiyah narrowly beat Stephane Peterhansel to second. Starting fourth in the 342km loop between Neom and Alula, Al-Rajhi snatched the lead from fellow Saudi Arabian driver Yasir Seaidan at the second waypoint and never looked back,

Dakar Rally organisers have presented plans for a cleaner future for the event focused on installing a ‘green bivouac’ and introducing an alternative energy category. GCK Energy and Saudi-based solar energy firm Desert Technologies are ramping up its provisions for solar energy to power the Dakar bivouac and supply charging points for electric vehicles in

Rally Northern Ireland promoter Bobby Willis says securing the British round of the World Rally Championship in 2022 would be his “biggest achievement” if he can pull it off. Willis remains “committed” to bringing the series to the Northern Ireland for the first time since 2009, having put his own money behind a business case

Stephane Peterhansel has extended his lead in the 2021 Dakar Rally with a dominant victory in Stage 9, as Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz Sr both hit trouble. What had been a six-minute gap between Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah was nearly tripled on Tuesday’s stage as the X-raid Mini driver secured his first stage win of

Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has retired from the 2021 Dakar Rally after failing to make it to the finish in Monday’s eighth stage. Competing in the 375km Sakaka and Neom loop that formed the second part of the marathon stage, Loeb suffered two punctures in the first 80km when he had only one

Toyota driver Nasser Al-Attiyah closed the gap to his X-raid Mini rival Stephane Peterhansel with a victory in the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally. Having slipped nearly eight minutes behind Peterhansel with a subdued showing in the first part of the marathon stage, Al-Attiyah brought the deficit back under five minutes with his fourth

Hubert Auriol, a three-time winner of the Dakar Rally and the first person to win the legendary event on both two wheels and four, has died aged 68. The Ethiopian-born Frenchman, nicknamed ‘The African’, passed away on Sunday “after a long battle with heart disease”, according to Agence France-Presse. Auriol was among the participants of

Stephane Peterhansel says he considers himself “really lucky” to have finished second on Stage 7 of the Dakar Rally after being hamstrung by two different issues. Peterhansel was fighting for the stage victory with the Overdrive Toyota of Yazeed Al-Rajhi when a wheel rim on his X-raid Mini broke 40km from the finish. After fixing

Sebastien Loeb has switched focus to development running and supporting Bahrain Raid Xtreme team-mate Nani Roma after his Dakar Rally was wrecked by an eight-hour stop with broken suspension. The nine-time World Rally champion dropped out of Dakar victory contention during Friday’s Stage 6 when his Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme BRX1 stopped 97km into the

Overdrive Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi overcame the X-raid Mini of Stephane Peterhansel to claim a maiden stage win in the Dakar Rally on Sunday. Peterhansel led much of the 453km Stage 7 between Ha’il and Sakaka, the first part of the two-day marathon stages crews have to do without external assistance, with his advantage stretching

Dakar Rally director David Castera has responded to criticism from competitors about this year’s roadbook and insists the alterations haven’t been used to “make things difficult on purpose”. A number of Dakar competitors have struggled with navigation frustrations during the opening week, with defending champion Carlos Sainz Sr particularly vocal after his problems on Stage

Sebastien Loeb believes the navigational challenges posed to the crews in the 2021 Dakar Rally has taken the emphasis away from the drivers and made it a “race of co-drivers”. The opening week of this year’s Dakar has proved to be challenging from a navigational point of view, with even some of the most experienced

Motorsport UK has confirmed that work is already underway to try and bring about the UK’s swift return to the World Rally Championship after it was dropped for 2021. Months of uncertainty around the 2021 instalment of Rally GB were finally ended on Friday afternoon when the WRC Promoter managing director confirmed it would not

The head of the World Rally Championship is “sad” the series will not get the chance to visit Northern Ireland in 2021, with Rally Ypres confirmed as taking its place. Jona Siebel made the comment after confirming the UK had lost its place on this year’s WRC calendar to the Ypres Rally, marking Belgium’s first

Carlos Sainz clawed back some of the deficit to 2021 Dakar Rally leader Stephane Peterhansel after being unchallenged for victory in Friday’s sixth stage. X-raid Mini driver Sainz led the entirety of the shortened 348km test between Al Qaisumah and Ha’il in Saudi Arabia, extending his advantage at every waypoint to take victory by just

Dakar Rally organisers have elected to shorten the sixth stage of the 2021 event by 100 kilometres (62.13 miles) and delayed its start by 90 minutes. According to a statement from officials, the decision has been made due to a “significant number” of competitors that encountered difficulties on yesterday’s fifth stage. Carlos Sainz was among

Dakar Rally stewards have explained why Sebastien Loeb was handed a five-minute penalty for speeding in a controlled speed zone on Wednesday’s Stage 4 of the 2021 event. Nine-time World Rally Champion Loeb took to social media on Wednesday evening to slam what he called an “incompetent” penalty after his Bahrain Raid Xtreme machine was

Carlos Sainz Sr says he’s “fed up” with this year’s Dakar Rally roadbook after getting lost for the second time in three days. Having already lost 31 minutes in Tuesday’s third stage with navigational difficulties, three-time winner Sainz slipped further away from the top runners after losing his way in the early sections of Stage

Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers bounced back from a tough start to the 2021 Dakar Rally to win Thursday’s fifth stage, as Stephane Peterhansel extended his lead over Nasser Al-Attiyah. De Villiers had been lying 22nd overall and third among the factory Toyotas after the opening four stages in Saudi Arabia, but led the 456km

Sebastien Loeb has reacted furiously to the speeding penalty given to him after Stage 4 of the 2021 Dakar Rally, saying “there is no room for incompetence or incompetents”. Loeb, the nine-time World Rally Champion, finished fourth on Wednesday’s stage from Wadi-Ad-Dawasir to Riyadh, but received a five-minute penalty for speeding. That relegated him to

Stephane Peterhansel says the Dakar Rally has become “kind of dangerous” in 2021 due to high average speeds witnessed in the deserts of Saudi Arabia. After organiser ASO admitted that some stages in the inaugural Saudi-based Dakar event last year were “very fast”, a route that is “80-90% new” compared to the previous edition was

Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah has recorded his third consecutive stage victory of the 2021 Dakar Rally on Wednesday, narrowly beating overall leader Stephane Peterhansel of X-raid Mini. Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel, along with Henk Lategan and Carlos Sainz, made Stage 4 the most openly-contested battle of Dakar so far, with the quartet separated by just a minute