Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah hit the gas on Tuesday to win stage 9 of the Dakar Rally as Saudi Yazeed al-Rajhi took the lead in the drivers’ standings. South African Henk Lategan was dethroned having dominated the standings since stage 2 and is now 7min 09sec behind the Saudi driver with three days to go. “It was a messy, messy, messy day for us but it’s not the end of the world, we’re still in it,” said Lategan. Five-time champion al-Attiyah covered the 357km special between Riyadh and Haradh in 2hr 52min 59sec, to keep in touch with a sixth Dakar title. “It was a good stage. I can be happy with the result. There are three days left, we really have to focus, everything is open,” said Dacia driver al-Attiyah, who is fourth over 25 minutes behind al-Rajhi. The Qatari finished 2min 47sec ahead of Belgian Guillaume de Mevius’ Mini and 3min 12sec ahead of al-Rajhi’s Overdrive. “We did a great job like we planned to,” said al-Rajhi. “It won’t be easy, but we will fight to the end. Everything is going well for us. ” Having had to open the road following his victory in stage 8, Lategan crossed […]