the classification of the 6th stage, De Mévius ends the Toyota series

Victim of an accident, Guerlain Chicherit (Mini) retired while he was 10th overall at the start of the 6th stage, won by his teammate Guillaume de Mévius, which put an end to Toyota’s hegemony.

They had performed flawlessly so far. The Toyota drivers have been wild since Bisha’s departure and five of them have won at least one stage. After the successes of Seth Quintero (twice), Henk Lategan, Rokas Baciuska, Saood Variawa and Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Guy Botterill almost became a stage winner too, for the first time in his career.

At 48 years old, the South African is competing in the Dakar for the second time after a good 6th place – the best result for a Toyota – and a title of best rookie during his first participation in 2024. Accompanied by his co-driver Dennis Murphy, former navigator of Giniel de Villiers, Guy Botterill took advantage of his starting position (38th) to follow the numerous tracks in front of him.

Toyota loses its invincibility

The native of Pietermaritzburg took the lead in all the time points before breaking down less than 100 km from the finish. He ceded the lead in the ranking to Guillaume de Mevius (Mini), second in the Dakar last year. The Belgian finally beats his teammate João Ferreira, concluding a mixed day for Mini after the retirement of Guerlain Chicherit. The Frenchman had an accident in the first part of the stage, which caused him neck pain. He requested an evacuation by helicopter. Already relegated more than an hour from Lategan, Chicherit leaves the Dakar route for the fifth time in fourteen participations.

Only 7th in the stage, the South African Henk Lategan, winner of the prologue, retains control of the rally, but his lead over Yazeed Al-Rajhi is visibly disappearing. The Saudi, who dreams of winning the title at home after his victory in the 48 hours, is seven minutes behind halfway. Dominant from the start, the Toyotas are well represented in the top 10 overall with four crews, after the problems encountered by Lucas Moraes today. For the rest, the Fords of Mattias Ekström and Mitch Guthrie are trying to hang on, like the Century of Frenchman Mathieu Serradori, 6th, and that of his teammate Brian Baragwanath, 10th.

Al-Attiyah grabs, but stays far away

Nasser Al-Attiyah, the last hope of Dacia, after the abandonment of Sébastien Loeb, took a few minutes from Henk Lategan with his fourth place in the stage, but remains a good distance away (+30:25). Fourth overall, the five-time winner of the event remains one of the favorites on a terrain that he knows by heart and where his experience has no equal.

On the French side, the only satisfaction comes of Adrien Van Beveren’s new beautiful day on a motorbike. Second in the stage, the Honda driver took five minutes back from overall leader Daniel Sanders, of whom he is 19 minutes behind (3rd).