DAKAR 2025

Lategan, leader of the Dakar: "It's time to show that Toyota's bet is the right one"

Henk Lategan is the name of the Dakar 2025. The 30-year-old South African, recruited by Glyn Hall - who directed Alonso's destiny in the Dakar - surprised everyone in 2021 with his speed already in his second Dakar, where he scored two stage wins. Now, two years after that, he is making an important leap in quality in his maturity as a driver.

Seven days and six stages later, Giniel de Villiers' protégé is the leader of the Dakar on the rest day, subduing not only the Fords and Dacias that are still alive, but also his colleagues in the Japanese army, including the official Gazoo Racing drivers (Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero).

A confident leader...MARCA shared a few minutes with the reference of the Arab race, who missed it last year due to a last-minute injury when he arrived "better prepared than ever." And it seems that he is at the same level now, a year later: "It wasn't something unthinkable for me, I know how prepared I was to get here," he says confidently... although not 'overconfident': "I keep reminding myself that I have to be humble, because there is a very tough week ahead."

And not only because of the toughness of the course, including the feared Empty Quarter. But because of the pack of rivals who will try to catch him in the next seven days. Among them a certain Nasser Al-Attiyah unleashed.

However... Lategan has a peculiar vision of cross-country racing: "Most of the time you go alone, so it's Brett [Cummings, his co-pilot, a former motard] and me against the conditions. So far we have kept a cool head and overcome all the situations that have arisen, and we will continue like this, without getting carried away by our position in the race and getting nervous." Of course, the formula has worked well for him so far.

"At the moment we are enjoying driving...which is what led me to compete: enjoying driving a car. Stressing is not positive, it is better to let yourself go and have fun driving."

His advantage (10:17 over Al-Rajhi, 20:54 over Ekström and 35:00 over Al-Attiyah) is not very comfortable, in his opinion: "They are all close, and they are good in the sand," he advances, although his vision of what will happen in the next few days: "There will be an interesting game of strategies here," he anticipates.

Lategan is only one of the drivers of the new generation, those who little by little are occupying the space of the legends, stealing stages, prominence from them - like the South African being the centre of attention halfway through Dakar. The last step is missing, taking a victory away from Sainz, Al-Attiyah or the absent Peterhansel. "Toyota has made a strong bet on young people. It is time to show that it is the right one." For the moment, it is doing so...

Schareina: comeback

Tosha Schareina has no choice but to put as much pressure on leader Sanders as possible... who looks like he's going to sell his skin dearly. Today, in the sixth installment of the Dakar 2025 (more than 600 km on the way to Ad Dawadimi) the Spaniard has recovered a fifth of the 15 minutes that separate him from the leader.

A valuable difference since both the Valencian and the Australian started in equal positions (Sanders, 6th and Schareina, 8th) so the strategic fight looked even. Another thing is that the key moves in this chess game were not made today... but are saved for tomorrow.

Sanders did not give his all in today's stage(image above) KTM

At least that seems to be the leader's plan: "It was important not to finish too far ahead today because tomorrow is going to be a difficult stage to be among the first, so I preferred to look for a better starting position tomorrow," explained Sanders at the finish line.

The stage win was in the hands of the very young American Mason Klein (Kove) for many minutes, but it slipped through his fingers in the final stages. And there was his compatriot Ricky Brabec (Honda), to collect the gift and take his first stage victory in this Dakar in which he defends the crown.

Spanish hopes... In this long stage there was time to hope for a Spanish victory. Because Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) was less than a minute from the leader during the entire first part of the stage (taking advantage of favourable stony terrain), although he faded away at the end. Even so, his sixth place is quite remarkable.

The scare came from Edgar Canet (KTM), who lost 5 minutes in a fall in the first kilometres of the day that caused pain in his wrist and back, but he was able to recover during the challenge of the stage. He arrived behind his rival in the Rally 2 classification, Tobias Ebster, but he retains the lead.

-Provisional classification in motorcycles, stage 7

Dakar 2025:

Ricky Brabec (Honda) - 5h 00:51

Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) is 23 s.

Nacho Cornejo (Hero) at 51 s

Tosha Schareina (Honda) 2:27

Luciano Benavides (KTM) at 3:36

Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) at 3;47

Mason Klein (Kove) at 4:22

Skyler Howes (Honda) 5:09

Daniel Sanders (KTM) in 5:43

Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) at 5:46

-General motorcycle classification, stage 7

Dakar 2025:

Daniel Sanders (KTM) - 35h 18:49

Tosha Schareina (Honda) at 11:46

Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) at 19:11

Ricky Brabec (Honda) at 23:18

Skyler Howes (Honda) at 27:25

Luciano Benavides (KTM) at 30:08

Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) to 40:52

Nacho Cornejo (Hero) at 44:39

Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) at 1h 09:28

Edgar Canet (KTM) at 1h 16:59

Reporter: Enrique Naranjo