SportsNews

Dakar 2025, Stage 6: Mini ends Toyota’s winning streak, Lategan’s lead chopped

Published

1 year ago

January 12, 2025

Guillaume de Mevius led a 1-2 finish for X-raid Mini on Stage 6 of Dakar Rally, as Henk Lategan’s lead in the overall standings was slashed to seven minutes.

As Dakar resumed after a rest day in Ha’il, competitors faced a 605km test en route to Al Duwadimi, but with a special 171km transfer section in the middle during which they were not timed.

Toyota driver Guy Botterill established himself as the early leader with his factory Hilux, extending his lead to 1m26s over X-raid Mini driver de Mevius as they entered the transfer section.

The South African appeared to be heading for a maiden stage win in Dakar until he suddenly lost five minutes heading to the third-last checkpoint, slipping from first to fifth in the order.

The biggest beneficiary of that drop was de Mevius, who had been closely following Botterill during the entire stage. Navigating the final 100km stretch with ease, de Mevius picked up his second career stage win in Dakar with a margin of 1m34s over team-mate Joao Ferreira.

Portuguese driver Ferreira was as much as five minutes down on the frontrunners in the opening phases of the stage, but made rapid gains as the day progressed, overhauling Overdrive Toyota’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi in the last 28km to secure the runner-up spot.

#240 X-Raid Mini JCW Team Mini: Joao Ferreira, Filipe Palmeiro
© Motorsport.com

#240 X-Raid Mini JCW Team Mini: Joao Ferreira, Filipe Palmeiro

Photo by: X-raid

Dacia’s star driver Nasser Al-Attiyah also trailed Al-Rajhi at the penultimate checkpoint, but a rapid final dash propelled him to third place at the end of the stage, just 2m01s down on winner de Mevius.

Al-Rajhi, who had borrowed a spare wheel from Saood Variawa during the transfer section, eventually slipped to fifth place in the final order, behind the factory Toyota of long-time stage leader Botterill.

They were followed by two more drivers from the Toyota contingent, Overdrive’s Rokas Bociuska and factory racer Lategan.

Ford was unable to put up a fight to the faster Toyota and Mini entries on Saturday, as Mattias Ekstrom ended up 8m9s off the pace in eighth and team-mate Nani Roma finished further back in 10th. They were separated by the customer MP Sports Raptor of Martin Prokop.

Two frontrunners dropped out of contention on Saturday. Toyota’s Lucas Moraes, who had been sitting fifth in the overall rankings, who lost an hour and a half with mechanical problems after stopping just 17km into the stage.

X-raid’s top gun Guerlain Chicherit, meanwhile, was forced to retire from the stage altogether after rolling over his new petrol-powered Mini at the 16km mark.

#211 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota: Henk Lategan, Brett Cummings
© Motorsport.com

#211 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota: Henk Lategan, Brett Cummings

Photo by: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

In the overall standings, Lategan continued to hold his grip on the top spot, but his lead has been slashed by around three minutes to 7m16s with six stages remaining.

Ekstrom sits 22m adrift in third place, while Al-Attiyah – who lost victory on Stage 5 due to a penalty for a missing wheel – is now trailing Lategan by 30m25s.

Moraes’ troubles has promoted Ford’s Mitch Guthrie Jr to fifth place, while Mathieu Serradori is up to sixth in the Century CR7.

SportsNews

Chelsea mathematically out of title race after 3-0 defeat to Everton

Published

2 months ago

March 21, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Chelsea are now mathematically out of the Premier League title race.

This follows their 3-0 drubbing in the hands of Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday night.

Liam Rosenior’s men came into the match with 48 points, looking to keep pace with the teams in front of them.

However, Beto opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half, before adding a second after the break.

Chelsea barely threatened Everton and looked flat for most of the game, before Iliman Ndiaye added a third.

The result means the Blues cannot match the 70 points that league leaders Arsenal currently have with seven matches left.

Champions Liverpool are also on the verge of being mathematically ruled out, as they have 49 points.

SportsNews

Super Eagles player bounced me from Iheanacho’s room — Osimhen

Published

2 months ago

March 21, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Galatasaray striker, Victor Osimhen, has claimed that a senior member of the Super Eagles squad in 2017 sent him away from a hotel room during his first call-up to the national team.

According to the 27-year-old, it was Kelechi Iheanacho who intervened and welcomed him inside.

Osimhen revealed this while appearing on a Twitch livestream with comedian, Carter Efe in the early hours of Saturday.

He said: “When I came, I met Iheanacho. And I told him, ‘ah, see me, I’m gonna carry your boots.’ So he said I should come to his room so, he gave me his room number.

“So, as I got to his room — I don’t just want to mention the name — he had a roommate. So, as I knocked on the door, the roommate opened the door. So, he like bounced me out of the room.”

Osimhen refused to reveal the identity of the player who sent him away.

SportsNews

AFCON 2025; Drama as Senegal Reportedly Relocates Trophy To Military Base After CAF Decision (Video)

Published

2 months ago

March 20, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Drama as Senegal reportedly relocates AFCON trophy to military base after Confederation of African Football (CAF) viral decision.

‎It would be recalled that CAF stripped Senegal of their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title, awarding it to Morocco instead.

This decision came after Morocco appealed the result of the January 18 final, where Senegal won 1-0 in extra time.

‎ According to the CAF Appeal Board, Senegal had forfeited the match due to their players walking off the pitch in protest of a penalty awarded to Morocco, citing Articles 82 and 84 of the AFCON regulations.

The controversy surrounds the AFCON final, where Senegal’s players walked off the pitch in protest of a late penalty awarded to Morocco.

In a clip circulating on the microblogging platform, X (formerly Twitter), a young man with glasses is seen holding the AFCON trophy surrounded by military personnel.

The clip captures the military personnel’s excitement as they support the trophy, with an officer recording the moment.

In a recent development, Senegal has announced plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with some officials and players expressing outrage and disappointment.