Toyota Gazoo Racing enjoyed an exceptional first Tuesday at Dakar 2025 when South African overall leaders Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings extended their advantage.

Their young gun compatriot Saood Variawa, meanwhile, made up for the Monday crash that threatened their further participation, by bouncing back to score his maiden Dakar stage win alongside Frenchman Francois Cazalet, as he became the youngest ever Dakar winner.

Tuesday’s Stage 3 route between Bisha and Al Henakiyah was shortened to 327 km versus the original 496 km due to storms en route. Which left a route of mainly dirt tracks with a little gravel and a touch of sand thrown in. In another adjustment, while Saudi home hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk were initially credited with Mondays’ win, Lithuanians Rokas Baciuska and Oriol Mena’s Hilux were later promoted to take the stage, and the disadvantage of opening the road on Tuesday.

American Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz Gazoo Hilux opened Tuesday fastest to lead Swedes Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist’s Ford Raptor and Brazilian Gazoo crew Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon, as overall leaders Lategan and Cummings initially slipped back to 21st. Ekstrom and Moraes then took turns at leading, before Variawa moved up to third in a Gazoo 1-2-3 behind Moraes and Quinteiro.

Still some way behind, Lategan kept pace with his closest overall challengers Nasser Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Edouard Boulanger’s Dacia, but Ekstrom then moved ahead into second in the virtual general standings. The three Toyotas up front traded the lead with Ekstrom in chase. Mini trio Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq, Guillaume De Mévius and Mathieu Baumel, Joao Ferreira and Felipe Palmeiro meanwhile closed in as the crews entered the long penultimate sector.

Variawa upped the pace to keep the charging Chicherit and de Mevius Minis at bay, with Quinteiro fourth from Ferreira, Attiyah and Ekstrom through the final control and on to the finish. Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier ended eighth in their Century, from Gazoo trio Moraes, Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz, and overall leader Lategan.

Of other South African interest, Daniel Schröder and Henry Köhne’s WCT Amarok bounced back from Monday’s technical challenges to end a fine fifteenth and Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer were 20th in their Century. Leading lady driver Aliyyah Koloc and Sebastien Delaunay were the best of the Red-Lined REVO+s in 33rd.

Sébastien Loeb lost close to an hour when they rolled their Dacia, leaving their further participation down to an FIA inspection Tuesday evening. 2024 winner Carlos Sainz’s Ford suffered a similar fate on the Chrono stage, only to be eliminated when it failed its Monday evening inspection.

Al Attiyah’s late trot saw him move back past Ekstrom to second overall by the finish of the day, but Lategan did enough to double his Monday overall advantage over Al Rajhi to over eight minutes over Al Attiyah, with Ekstrom third. Dakar 2025 now heads into Wednesday’s 415 km first half of the no-overnight service Marathon Stage described as ‘a hell of a day’ through the canyons to Al Ula.

Motorsport Media

saood variawa

Great day for SA as Saood Variawa makes history as youngest-ever Dakar stage winner, while Henk Lategan extends lead