SportsNews

Dakar 2025, Stage 9: Al-Attiyah fastest as Al-Rajhi grabs overall lead

Published

1 year ago

January 14, 2025

Nasser Al-Attiyah bounced back from a difficult showing on Monday to claim victory on Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally, while a puncture for Toyota driver Henk Lategan promoted Yazeed Al-Rajhi to the overall lead.

Dacia’s Al-Attiyah and Ford rival Mattias Ekstrom initially duelled for victory in the 357km test between Riyadh and Haradh, with the two trading the lead in the first part of the day.

Qatar driver Al-Attiyah held the early advantage in his Dacia Sandrider before Ekstrom flexed his muscle to jump to the front 81km into the stage.

The five-time Dakar winner retook the lead at the following checkpoint and began to stretch his advantage in the second half of the day, pulling out a lead of over a minute with less than 100km to run.

As Ekstrom dropped further back, Al-Attiyah continued to chip away from his rivals, eventually reaching the finish line with a 2m47s margin over X-raid Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius, who moved up to second.

The Belgian stood third for much of the all-gravel stage on Tuesday, but leapfrogged Ekstrom at the 217km mark to secure his best finish of 2025 since his victory on Stage 6.

Meanwhile, Overdrive’s Al-Rajhi put in a solid performance in a customer Toyota to take third, demoting Ekstrom’s Ford to fourth place.

Al-Rajhi team-mate’s Rokas Backiuska rounded off the top five, ahead of the other Ford of debutant Mitch Guthrie Jr.

#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota: Yazeed Al Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk
© Autosport.com

#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota: Yazeed Al Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk

Photo by: A.S.O.

No factory Toyotas finished inside the top 10, as Guy Botterill crashed out at the 272km mark and Lategan suffered an early puncture that cost him seven minutes to fix.

The South African haemorrhaged more time later in the stage, eventually finishing 16 minutes back in 11th place – just a day after he had taken victory on Stage 8.

His troubles allowed Al-Rajhi to snatch the lead in the Ultimate class with just three stages remaining, the Saudi driver moving 7m09s clear at the top of the standings.

Ekstrom continues to hold third place on Ford’s maiden factory outing, with Al-Attiyah now less than a minute behind in the last-remaining Dacia.

Guthrie Jr sits half an hour adrift in fifth place, while Matthieu Serradori has strengthened his grip on sixth position despite a low-key outing on Tuesday.

Dakar 2025 – Results after Stage 9 (Top 10)

Pos	Driver	Car	Time/Gap
1	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Toyota	33h43m58s
2	Henk Lategan	Toyota	7m09s
3	Mattias Ekstrom	Ford	24m50s
4	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Dacia	25m21s
5	Mitch Guthrie Jr	Ford	56m28s
6	Matthieu Serradori	Century	1h06m52s
7	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Toyota	1h44m41s
8	Seth Quintero	Toyota	1h46m07s
9	Joao Ferreira	Mini	2h11m02s
10	Brian Baragwanath	Century	2h31m14s

SportsNews

2026 World Cup: Super Eagles waiting for FIFA’s decision – Iwobi

Published

15 hours ago

February 6, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Super Eagles playmaker, Alex Iwobi, has admitted they are waiting to see if the team would still play at the 2026 World Cup.

The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, is optimistic of a potential lifeline from FIFA, after it submitted a petition against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Iwobi was asked by SuperSport if he would rather lift the AFCON 2025 trophy or qualify for the World Cup?

The 29-year-old, who played at the 2018 of the World Cup, replied: “I mean we’re still waiting, well hopefully we can go to the World Cup, but I feel it’s a tough one.

“It’s a tough one because winning AFCON is like… It’s a great legacy, it’s a great thing to have like in your career, a memorable moment.

“But then at the same time, because I’ve been to the World Cup already, a lot of the players haven’t been. They would like to say ‘I want to go to the World Cup,’ so I can’t be selfish and say win the AFCON and for my teammates to not go to the World Cup. So it’s a tough one. I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Politics

PRESIDENT TINUBU CONDOLES WITH SAMUEL CHUKWUEZE OF THE SUPER EAGLES ON THE PASSING OF HIS MOTHER

Published

1 week ago

January 30, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

President Bola Tinubu sends his condolences

to Super Eagles forward Samuel Chukwueze on the passing of his mother.

The President also extends his sympathies to the family and friends of Mrs Sarah Chukwueze, who passed away on Thursday.

President Tinubu mourns with the Chukwueze family and encourages them to find solace in the memory and legacy of their late matriarch.

“The passing of Mrs Chukwueze, the mother of one of our bright football stars, just a few days after the passing of Super Eagles’ captain Wilfred Ndidi’s father, is deeply saddening.

I mourn with them, and I am with them in prayers during this difficult time,” the President says.

President Tinubu prays that God Almighty will grant the departed eternal rest.

Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information and Strategy)