The Latest Breaking News from Yazeed AlRajhi

The Al-Hofuf to Shubaytah Stage 5 covered the shortest special stage distance of this year’s Dakar Rally at 118km, to provide small respite before the two-day marathon stage begins tomorrow, which will see competitors stop on Thursday and camp overnight and resume on Friday.

Prodrive driver Loeb sat a distant ninth in the general classification heading into the fourth stage in Saudi Arabia, having lost a considerable amount of time on the opening day due to punctures and a broken rear tow link - and again on Monday with more tyre troubles.

Peterhansel had suffered a bruising start to his 35th appearance at the Dakar on Saturday, as a spate of punctures left him 30 minutes off the front. 

Nasser Al-Attiyah has held off Audi’s power boost to win his second stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally and extend his overall lead to more than 22 minutes.