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Saood Variawa stuns Toyota teammate Lategan in thrilling Dakar 2026 Stage 8 showdown!

Redação by Redação
January 12, 2026
in Motorsports
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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Saood Variawa stuns Toyota teammate Lategan in thrilling Dakar 2026 Stage 8 showdown!

Thrilling Showdown at Dakar 2026: Variawa Stuns Lategan in Stage 8 Nail-Biter!

In a heart-pounding finish that had fans on the edge of their seats, Saood Variawa pulled off a stunning upset against his Toyota teammate Henk Lategan, clinching victory in the eighth stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally. This dramatic stage, the longest of this year’s grueling race at an astounding 483 kilometers around Wadi ad Dawasir, showcased the most fiercely contested competition yet, with the top eight drivers separated by a mere minute at the halfway point!

The stage kicked off with Mitch Guthrie setting the tone in his Ford Raptor, but it wasn’t long before Lategan made his move, overtaking Guthrie to seize a narrow five-second lead by the second checkpoint. However, the relentless American driver wasn’t ready to back down; he retaliated fiercely, reclaiming the lead 180 kilometers into the stage. In a shocking twist, Lategan suddenly fell back to fourth place, overtaken by Dacia’s legendary Sebastien Loeb and Ford’s Nani Roma.

Loeb, the nine-time World Rally champion, momentarily disrupted the Toyota and Ford dominance, climbing to the top of the leaderboard by the fourth checkpoint. But his time at the summit was short-lived. Lategan, along with competitors Mattias Ekstrom and Nasser Al-Attiyah, surged ahead within the next 40 kilometers, leaving Loeb scrambling to keep pace.

Guthrie, who had been riding high, inexplicably lost his momentum, dropping almost two minutes between checkpoints and allowing Ekstrom and Al-Attiyah to close in on Lategan. Al-Attiyah launched a fierce assault, narrowing the gap to just five seconds with only 100 kilometers remaining. But as the finish line loomed, Al-Attiyah’s charge faltered, allowing Lategan to momentarily secure his position as the potential first repeat stage winner of Dakar 2026.

But the drama didn’t end there! In a remarkable comeback, Variawa, who had been trailing the leaders in sixth place, clawed back an impressive 45-second deficit in the final stretch, overtaking Lategan by a nail-biting three seconds at the finish line! This victory marks only the second stage win in Variawa’s burgeoning Dakar career, following his breakthrough in 2025.

Behind the Toyota duo, Ekstrom fought valiantly to claim the “best of the rest” title, finishing in third place just 29 seconds off the lead, while Seth Quintero triumphed as the third Toyota Hilux in the top four. Dacia’s Al-Attiyah, despite his earlier aggression, had to settle for fifth place, while Ford’s Carlos Sainz Sr. finished sixth, trailing the leaders by a narrow 1 minute and 29 seconds.

The standings continue to shift as Stage 1 winner Guillaume de Mevius steered his X-Raid Mini to a respectable seventh place. Loeb, despite leading briefly, dropped to eighth, with Roma and Mathieu Serradori closely following in ninth and tenth, respectively. Meanwhile, Guthrie’s shocking fall to 11th, just ahead of Toyota’s Toby Price, was a bitter disappointment as he lost nearly five minutes in the second half of the stage.

In the overall standings, Dacia’s Al-Attiyah still commands the lead, but his cushion has dwindled to a razor-thin four minutes over Ford’s Ekstrom. Lategan moves up to third among the Toyotas, trailing by 6 minutes and 8 seconds, while Roma and Sainz follow in fourth and fifth. Loeb and Guthrie remain in sixth and seventh despite their late-stage struggles.

As the Dakar Rally continues to unfold, one thing is certain: the battle is far from over, and the excitement is just beginning! Who will seize glory in the remaining stages? Stay tuned!

Tags: 2005-motogp-world-championship2025-dakar-rally2025-ford-championship2025-toyota-usa-track-and-field-championshipsDaciahenk-lategan-2saood-variawasebastien-loeb-en
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