Nineteen-year-old Saood Variawa of South Africa became the youngest top-class driver to win a stage in the Dakar Rally. The previous record was 22 set last Saturday by American Seth Quintero. Variawa shrugged off a late puncture to win the 327-kilometer third stage from Bisha north to Al Henakiyah.

Bisha: Lithuanian driver Rokas Baciuska won the second stage of the Dakar 2025 rally yesterday, the fearsome '48-hour Chrono' while Qatar's five-time winner Nasser Al Attiyah finished fifth and is third in overall standings.

Nine-times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb is out of the Dakar Rally after he rolled his Dacia in the Saudi desert on Tuesday as the race continued to take a toll of the big names after the exit of 2024 winner Carlos Sainz.

Yazeed Al-Rajhi came out on top in the 48-hour chrono stage at the Dakar Rally as Henk Lategan took over the overall lead. Toyota privateer Al-Rajhi finished with a time of 10h32m54s, 4m29s up on Dacia's Nasser Al-Attiyah after the duo pulled clear on the first day of the mammoth stage.

Carlos Sainz, four time winner of the Dakar Rally, and copilot Lucas Cruz, have been forced out of the competition following an FIA technical inspection of his Ford Raptor which found the car unfit to continue.

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.

Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Nasser Al-Attiyah have been handed penalties by the FIA for exceeding permitted speed limits after finishing first and second in stage two of the Dakar Rally. Speed limits are dictated during non-timed liaison running,