The Dakar 2026 continues to be a true theatre of drama and twists, and Henk Lategan experienced this bitterly during the seventh stage. Just as he seemed ready to take the lead, a broken shock absorber ultimately compromised his hopes, leaving the field open for Mattias Ekström, who managed to seize the opportunity.
A day that started under the best auspices
Henk Lategan, the South African Toyota driver, was in great form on this course where speed was king. After leading the race for a long time, he already envisioned himself on the top step of the podium for this stage. But fate, sometimes capricious like a car in full race, decided otherwise. Before even reaching the finish, a technical incident brought his ascent to a halt.
“We were really having a great day,” recalls Lategan. “And then there was a section, it was a small bump followed by a dip. As we came into the dip – and you can see everyone passed there – it broke the shock absorber. It broke the shock absorber shaft clean in the middle.” A situation no driver wishes to experience, especially when they are at the front of the race.
Repairs under pressure
Faced with this unexpected challenge, Lategan and his team wasted no time in acting. “The car was hanging on one side, we stopped and we had a spare shock absorber, so we took out the old one and had to put in a new one,” he explains. Nevertheless, the repairs were not straightforward. “It also caused a lot of damage when it broke, so there were bits to cut and remove. It took a bit of time to fix that.”
In the meantime, every second lost on the field is a heavy blow in this competition where every minute counts. “Let’s hope we can have two good days from now on and then we’ll be back in the rhythm, but it’s really tough,” confides Lategan, clearly affected by this incident.
The standings tighten
Despite this setback, Henk Lategan managed to put his situation into perspective. Indeed, although he lost “only” eight minutes, he maintains an honourable position in the overall standings. In third place, 7 minutes and 41 seconds behind the leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah, he can hope to get back into the race. Moreover, he will not be forced to open the road in the next stage, a position often tricky to manage.
This little stroke of luck could well be decisive for the continuation of his adventure in the Dakar. As he gets back in the saddle, the stakes remain high for the drivers engaged in this fierce battle on the desert tracks.
A special stage for others
Lategan’s fate also brought joy to Mattias Ekström, who seized victory in this special stage. The Ford driver managed to take advantage of the misfortunes of his competitors to close in on the leader of the overall standings. “For me, it was a very flat and very fast special,” he analyses. “We didn’t expect a special like this, not the best profile when you start behind, but it’s like that, we did our best.”
As for Sébastien Loeb, he also had a quiet day despite the difficult conditions. Opening with Nasser Al-Attiyah, he noted that the terrain did not favour major manoeuvres. “A fast special with a section of dunes in the middle, the rest very fast overall,” he describes. The drivers had to play it safe to avoid fatal mistakes.
“There shouldn’t be any very big gaps. We caught up with Nasser who regained a bit of margin after the neutralisation where he must have seen that we were back on him,” adds Loeb. This risk management strategy is crucial in a competition as demanding as the Dakar.
