With his stage win in the first stage, Seth Quintero entered the record books as the youngest stage winner ever. Two days later, he lost that record to Saood Variawa. The 19-year-old South African won the third stage of the Dakar Rally in the Toyota Hilux, finishing 33 seconds ahead of Guerlain Chicherit and 1 minute and 48 seconds ahead of Quintero.
For Variawa, the rally almost came to an end yesterday. He collided with Giniel de Villiers, losing over 8 hours in the process. However, he finished in time and started the third stage, rewarding his mechanics’ hard work with the stage victory. His teammate Henk Lategan finished twelfth, retaining his lead in the overall standings.

Sébastien Loeb had a tough day, hoping his ninth Dakar would finally result in a win. Just 10 kilometers into the stage, he rolled his Dacia Sandrider and lost more than an hour. Upon arrival at the bivouac, the team will need to thoroughly inspect the car, particularly the roll cage, to determine if he can continue his rally tomorrow.
It was a fast stage, with the top 8 finishing within 5 minutes of each other and the top 17 within 15 minutes. As a result, there were no major changes in the standings. Lategan remained in the lead ahead of Al-Attiyah and Ekström. Al Rajhi dropped from second to fourth, while Moraes climbed to fifth. The top five are within 20 minutes of each other, setting up an exciting race with the marathon stage looming.
The fastest Dutchman today was Rik van den Brink in the Century Buggy. The debutant recorded the 39th fastest time. Ronald van Loon finished 41st, Tim Coronel 45th, and Stefan Carmens 47th. Maik Willems took 49th place.
Dave and Tessa Klaassen had problems on the way. The wishbone broke after 43 kilometers in the test. They tried to repair it, but to no avail. It broke again and then they drove back to the asphalt to drive to the bivouac. They hope to be able to continue tomorrow as Dakar Experience participants.
Challengers
Only 24 seconds separated the stage winner from the fourth place in the challengers’ category. Nicolas Cavigliasso claimed another stage win, solidifying his lead in the standings. Paul Spierings finished second, 14 seconds behind, while Yasir Seaidan came third. Dania Akeel seemed on course for her first stage win but had to settle for fourth place.
Seaidan, having already retired from the overall race earlier, no longer plays a significant role in the standings but can still fight for stage wins and influence the Dakar Rally.
Lex Peters achieved an impressive 15th place in the Arcane. Puck Klaassen finished 19th, while Gert-Jan van der Valk took 31st place. Marinus Streppel and Richard Aczel are still on the course.
SSVs
After a few tough days, Francesco Lopez Contardo finally had reason to celebrate as he claimed today’s stage win, preventing another victory for Polaris. Xavier de Soultrait finished second, with Brock Heger in third.
De Soultrait retained his lead in the standings ahead of Heger and Pinto. Pinto, however, has now fallen over an hour behind in the standings.
Sander Derikx was the fastest Dutchman with the 14th best time, and his teammate Roger Grouwels followed in 16th place.