WADI AL-DAWASIR: Saood Variawa won the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in a South African one-two with Henk Lategan on Monday as Nasser Al-Attiyah saw his overall lead cut to four minutes in the Saudi desert.

Dacia Sandriders driver Al-Attiyah finished fifth and one minute and 16 seconds behind 20-year-old Toyota SA driver Variawa, who beat factory entry Lategan by three seconds on the 483km loop around the southern city of Wadi Al-Dawasir.

The Qatari’s closest rival Mattias Ekstrom was third for Ford in the longest stage of the 48th ‌edition of the ‌rally.

Last year’s Dakar runner-up Lategan moved up ‌to third overall, six ‌minutes and eight seconds off the lead with five stages remaining before Saturday’s finish in the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

The one-two was the fourth ever by South African drivers in the car category.

Ford’s Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively.

“We made a little mistake close to the finish and we lost around three minutes,” said Al-Attiyah, a five times Dakar winner. “But OK, I am really happy from the performance. We don’t lose a lot of time. ‌I think we did a good job.”

Predictions that ‍this year’s Dakar would be the ‍closest battle yet were backed up by the top five in ‍the standings, from three different teams, being separated by 10 minutes and 39 seconds.

Sixth-placed Sebastien Loeb, the nine-times world rally champion driving for Dacia, remained in contention and was within 17 minutes of his leading teammate.

Reigning Dakar champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia withdrew last week.

In the motorcycle category, Argentina’s Luciano Benavides took his third stage win in four days and seized the overall lead for the first time in his career from Australian KTM teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders.

Benavides, who had started the day nearly five minutes adrift, leads Sanders by 10 seconds with American Honda rider Ricky Brabec third and four minutes 47 seconds off the pace.

“These last two stages were a little bit faster and in these conditions I feel really good, I can read the roadbook super well and take really good decisions,” said Benavides.

The Dakar began in 1978 as a race from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital but switched to South America in 2009 ‌for security reasons. It moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020.

The race is the first round of the World Rally-Raid Championship season.