AL DUWADIMI, Saudi Arabia Sundays Dakar Rally Stage Seven loop around the Al Duwadimi bivouac saw confusion cloud the front of the Ultimate class due to an incorrect note in the road book.

The leading group, including Nasser Al-Attiyah and Guillaume De Mévius, lost nearly an hour searching in vain for a waypoint with organizers later announcing that a 20km segment would be delimited from the timings due to the roadblock error Brazilian Lucas Moraes coming out best thanks to his first stage win during the 47th edition.

South African Henk Lategan is still clinging on to the Ultimate overall lead, however Swede Mattias Ekström is now only 10 minutes and 25 seconds back in third place overall in his Ford Raptor T1+, five-time winner Al-Attiyah also within striking distance at 21 minutes, 57 seconds off the category leader.

There was a problem in the roadbook, so we ended up looking like clowns in the circus, Ekström said. That bit wasnt so fun, but afterwards we drove as well as we could. It was quite difficult.

Toby Price and 2009 Dakar champion Giniel de Villiers both retired as co-drivers Sam Sunderland and Dirk von Zitzewitz suffered a concussion and a neck injury respectively.

We had an issue with the car that pushed us back into the dust with poor visibility and Sammy took another blow to the head, losing vision, Price explained. Its a shame to finish like this and were both gutted.

We can fix cars but not humans, and Sam is family to me so his health comes first.

It was another faultless performance on two wheels by bike race leader Daniel Sanders as he clocked up his fifth 2025 stage win for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and thereby stretched his lead at the top of the rankings to 15 minutes, 33 seconds.

My speed was good, my head was good and my focus was good, Sanders said. Were here to win and were doing everything we can to make that happen.

American Corbin Leaverton came out strong again in the Challenger class and bagged his second 2025 stage win to move into sixth overall with Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team team-mate Gonçalo Guerreiro better placed to challenge for the title, lying just 30 minutes, 37 seconds off leader Nicolas Cavigliasso.

Were giving everything we have on every stage, Guerreiro said. Im happy we could pass the big dunes today.

In the SSV class, Francisco Chaleco López closed in on Xavier De Soultrait in second overall with the Chilean cutting the gap to 20 minutes between him and the Frenchman in the classification standings.

Organizers have described Mondays Stage 8 between Al Duwadimi and Saudi Arabias capital city Riyadh as hectic and varied with the timed special stage of more than 480km having the potential to shake things up.