Carlos Sainz, the defending Dakar Rally champion, exited the race after his car, a Ford Raptor, suffered irreparable damage. Meanwhile, Toyota's Henk Lategan leads the rally. Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska was awarded the second stage win due to a refuelling delay beyond his control.

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.

Overdrive Toyota’s Yazeed Al Rajhi, who lost out big time on the 48-hour chrono stage in last year’s Dakar Rally, thought he had achieved the best accumulated time over the two days