Local favourite Yazeed Al-Rajhi won the 48-hour second stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Monday, despite a penalty for speeding, as South African Henk Lategan took the overall lead for the factory Toyota team.

Dakar Rally roared into life Friday with the high-speed Prologue stage, featuring 29km/18 miles against the clock around the Start Camp in Bisha, Saudi Arabia. In the Ultimate class, Henk

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings – four-time South African Rally Raid Champions – set the fastest time in the 29km

The prologue times do not count towards the overall standings but those in the top 10 get to choose their starting position for the first stage on Saturday.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz can extend his record as the Dakar Rally's oldest champion by becoming the first to win with five different car manufacturers in the two-week marathon starting in Saudi Arabia this weekend.

South Africa's Henk Lategan won the Dakar Rally prologue in the cars category Friday, kicking off the sixth edition in Saudi Arabia that will stretch nearly 8,000 kilometres across 12 stages. It moved then to South America until finding a new home in Saudi Arabia since 2020.

Carlos Sainz made his debut on the Dakar in 2006, two years after Nasser Al Attiyah. He was the first of the two to writ

Carlos Sainz believes that “tactics will be more important than ever” in this year’s running of the Dakar Rally. After claiming his fourth victory in the iconic rally raid last year with Audi, the Spaniard has switched allegiances to Ford this term as the marque enters its new Raptor developed in collaboration with M-Sport.