Guillaume de Mevius claimed victory in the sixth stage, breaking Toyota’s winning streak in this Dakar Rally. It didn’t stop there for Germany’s X-RAID team, as Joao Ferreira secured second place, earning MINI a one-two finish. Third place went to Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Dacia Sandrider.
This stage also featured tactical play. Henk Lategan, the overall leader, admitted at the finish that he deliberately held back to avoid opening the route tomorrow. During the seventh stage, the cars and motorcycles will follow separate routes, making it costly to be the first to open.
Behind the two MINI drivers and the Dacia, four Toyotas crossed the finish line. Guy Botterill came in fourth, followed by Yazeed Al Rajhi in fifth, Rokas Baciuska in sixth, and Lategan in seventh.

However, the MINI team also faced setbacks. Guerlain Chicherit suffered a serious crash and was taken to the hospital for medical evaluation, becoming another top competitor to withdraw from the rally. Lucas Moraes also encountered issues and dropped out of the top five overall.
Lategan retained the lead but saw his advantage shrink to 7 minutes over Al Rajhi. Mattias Ekström remained third, 22 minutes behind, while Al-Attiyah closed the gap to 30 minutes and stayed in fourth. Mitchell Guthrie moved up to fifth in his Ford Raptor.
Ronald van Loon was the fastest Dutch driver, bringing his Red-Lined Revo+ to a 36th-place finish. Rik van den Brink followed in 40th, and Maik Willems finished 41st. Stefan Carmans became 48th.
There were issues for some Dutch drivers. Dave Klaassen was stuck in the dunes for over an hour, and Tim Coronel has been stationary for more than 3 hours due to a technical problem.
As night falls, the second part of the stage, mainly consisting of dunes, will be a significant challenge for those still on the course.
Challengers
Yasir Seaidan claimed his second stage win, leading the field throughout the day and finishing with a 5-minute advantage over Corbin Leaverton. Pau Navarro took third place.

Paul Spierings was the fastest Dutchman, finishing fourth and gaining some time on the overall leader. Nicolas Cavigliasso finished fifth, with Goncalo Guerreiro in sixth.
In the standings, Cavigliasso remained in the lead, holding a 35-minute advantage over Guerreiro. Spierings followed 40 minutes behind the leader.
Puck Klaassen delivered a strong performance, particularly in the dunes, climbing up the rankings to finish 10th. Lex Peters came in 22nd, Gert-Jan van der Valk was 26th and Richard Aczel came in 28th. Marinus Streppel is still on his way.
SSVs
In the SSV category, Francesco Lopez Contardo took the stage win, finishing 1.5 minutes ahead of Xavier de Soultrait and 11 minutes ahead of Brock Heger.

Heger maintained a comfortable overall lead, with more than an hour’s advantage over De Soultrait. Lopez Contardo moved up to third after the stage.
Roger Grouwels lost time in the dunes and finished 16th. Sander Derikx achieved the 22nd time.