Toyota’s Henk Lategan crushes rivals to take overall lead

Factory Toyota driver Henk Lategan annihilated the competition in the Dakar Rally on Wednesday, scoring a mammoth seven-minute victory in the first part of the marathon stage.

In a 2026 event that has seen Toyota’s form fluctuate wildly day to day, Lategan mounted an impressive comeback from Tuesday’s disappointment to log the quickest time in the 417km marathon stage around Al-Ula.
 
The South African trailed Dacia’s Sebastien Loeb when the fourth stage of the rally-raid kicked off on Wednesday morning, but quickly ascended to the top at the second checkpoint, establishing an advantage of 46s over Nasser Al-Attiyah.

His lead continued to grow throughout the stage, particularly through the middle sections, as he overtook 11 cars over the course and ended the day 7m03s in the front. This was the largest winning margin in Dakar this year, putting Lategan firmly at the top of the overall standings.

Five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah (Dacia) couldn’t close the gap to Lategan in the closing sections and had to settle for second position, with father-son duo Marek and Eryk Goczal following him in their customer Toyota Hiluxes in third and fourth positions.

Loeb rounded out a solid day for Dacia in fifth place, but conceded almost 18 minutes to Lategan on a day the latter was completely untouchable.

Michal Goczal, brother of Marek, was seventh-fastest for Energylandia, followed by the factory Toyotas of Toby Price and Saood Variawa. 

Century’s Mathieu Serradori was ninth in the best of the Century CR7s, while Seth Quintero made it a whopping seven Toyotas inside the top 10.

As was the case in Stage 2, Toyota’s improved competitiveness coincided with a drop in form for Ford, with the two manufacturers essentially swapping positions in the pecking order.

The Blue Oval’s best representative was Mattias Ekstrom in 11th, the two-time DTM champion dropping more than 26 minutes through the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Carlos Sainz Sr finished less than 30 seconds adrift in 12th, while Nani Roma ended up further back in 15th.

But the Ford driver who struggled the most was American youngster Mitch Guthrie, who conceded a whopping 43 minutes a day after scoring his maiden stage win in the Ultimate category.

Wednesday also saw reigning Dakar champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive Toyota) withdraw from the event after 234km, after a series of punctures dropping him completely out of contention. Still recovering from injuries he sustained in 2025, the Saudi driver had already suffered a massive blow to his hopes of defending the title with a 16-minute penalty for missing a waypoint in Stage 1.

“The further significant time losses today have led me to end the Dakar Rally prematurely,” he said. “My back injuries had healed sufficiently before the Dakar Rally, but not completely. Jeopardising this healing process without a chance of a top result didn’t feel right. Therefore, complete recovery is now the top priority.”

Toyota’s dominant performance on Wednesday has once again shaken up the general classification, giving Lategan a 3m55s advantage over Al-Attiyah, who now moves into second position.

Ekstrom is Ford’s highest-placed driver in third ahead of team-mate Sainz, with Serradori an impressive fifth for Century ahead of Toyota driver Variawa.

Roma and Loeb sit seventh and eighth respectively, while Eryk Goczal climbs to ninth ahead of Dacia’s Cristina Gutierrez.

Guthrie’s disastrous performance has seen him tumble from first to 13th in a span of 24 hours, behind Michal Goczal and Lucas Moraes.

Due to the marathon rules, the crews will not receive any external assistance overnight in the bivouac before they venture from Al-Ula to Hail for the fifth stage of Dakar.

Dakar Rally — Overall results after Stage 4:

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— The Motorsport.com Team