Henk Lategan’s lead of the Dakar Rally has melted to 21 seconds after a chaotic seventh stage for timings in the Saudi desert.

Henk Lategan's overall Dakar Rally lead was cut to seven minutes and 16 seconds as Yazeed Al-Rajhi closed the gap to the South African despite issues with his car, while Mini's Guillaume de Mevius and Joao Ferreira were the first two to finish stage six in Saudi Arabia.

An organisers' error in the drivers' route guide caused chaos at the Dakar Rally on Sunday as cars went off the route into the vast Saudi Arabian desert in a blunder blasted as a "disaster" by a former champion.

After the only rest day, the caution of car front-runner Lategan and motorbike pace-setter Sanders allowed their closest pursuers to catch up by up to four minutes on the sixth stage from Ha’il south to Al Duwadimi. South African driver Lategan was seventh on the stage, 6 1/2 minutes behind Belgian winner Guillaume de Mévius.

Daniel Sanders underlined his dominance on the bikes at the Dakar Rally with victory in Sunday's seventh stage in Saudi Arabia, his fifth win of this year's race. "It was pretty fast, very fast," said Sanders.

This time it was not a Toyota reaching the bivouac in first place, instead a Guillaume de Mevius led 1-2 finish gave X-Raid Mini its first 2025 Dakar Rally win, AFTER South African Toyota Overdrive driver,