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Dakar 2025 Stage 3 Results: Sherco's Lorenzo Santolino And Toyota's Saood Variawa Win - Sainz Out
Stage 3 of the 47th edition of the Dakar rally featured a shortened special stage due to heavy storms in the Al Henakiyah. At the end of the special stage, Sherco's Lorenzo Santolino and Toyota's Saood Variawa emerged as the winners.
The special stage was originally meant to be 496km long but was shortened to 327 kilometres as the 2025 Dakar Rally finally made its way out of Bisha north to the town of Al Henakiyah.
Dakar 2025 Stage 3 Results - Bikes
Stage 3 of Dakar 2025 saw Sherco's Lorenzo Santolino and BAS World KTM's Bradley Cox trade blows and positions as they battled each other through the sands of Saudi Arabia. After a stage full of dirt and gravel traps and of course sand, it was Spain's Santolino who emerged victorious.
Santolino finished today's special stage in 03:44:34, just one minute and 21 seconds ahead of Honda's American rider, Ricky Brabec who is the defending Dakar champion. In 3rd place today was Honda's Skyler Howes who ended just 9 seconds behind Brabec, 04:10 behind Santolino's stage-winning time.
Hero's Ross Branch ended in fourth place with a time of 03:48:48, 04:14 off the pace set by Santolino. The final spot in the Top 5 today was taken by KTM's Luciano Benavides. Branch's Hero teammate, Nacho Cornejo, ended today's stage in 13th place with a time of 03:51:44, 07:10 behind stage winner Santolino.
The other Sherco rider, Rui Goncalves ended the day in 15th place, 07:36 behind his teammate. Daniel Sanders, who won the first three stages of Dakar 2025, ended the day in 22nd, 14:49 behind Santolino.
In the overall standings, KTM's Sanders continues to lead Dakar 2025 in the bikes category with a time of 20:09:54. However, his lead over Honda Skyler Howes has dropped from 12:36 yesterday to just 01:57. Hero's Ross Branch also clawed back over 10 and a half minutes from Sanders and is now just 02:05 behind the Aussie.
Honda's defending champion Ricky Brabec sits in 4th overall with the American rider now just 04:57 behind Sanders. Tosha Schareina, another member of the Honda pack rounds off the top 5, sitting 08:17 behind Sanders.
Hero's Nacho Cornejo sits in 9th overall, 41:18 behind Sanders. Today's stage winner Santolino is ranked 10th overall and sits 42:18 behind Sanders.
India's Ashish Raorane sits in 98th place (he ended today's stage in 101st place), nearly 22 hours behind the Sanders, while Jatin Jain who was moved to the Dakar Experience class after the 48-hour Chrono stage is now ranked 127th of 129 riders.
Dakar 2025 Stage 3 Results - Cars
In the cars category, Toyota's South African driver Saood Variawa took the win. This was the first-ever stage win at the Dakar for the young Variawa who is taking his second crack at the world's toughest rally.
Variawa brought home his Toyota Hilux in a time of 3:16:52, beating French X-Raid Mini driver Guerlain Chicherit by 23 seconds. 45 seconds behind Variawa in third spot today was another X-Raid Mini driver, Guillaume De Mévius of Belgium.
Toyota's American driver Seth Quintero, who won stage 1, ended up in 4th place today, 01:48 behind Variawa. The top 5 was rounded off by another X-Raid Mini driver, Portugal's Jao Ferreira, who ended up 03:15 off the pace set by Variawa today.
5-time Dakar winner Nasser Al Attiyah ended in 6th spot with a time of 03:20:26, 03:34 behind Variawa. The only remaining Ford driver in contention, Mattias Ekstrom, ended the day in 7th spot, 03:49 off Variawa's time. Sebastien Loeb, in the second Dacia, flipped his car over today and ended the stage in 26th place, 01:03:20 behind Variawa.
In the overall standings, Toyota's Henk Lategan continues to lead the Dakar with a time of 19:04:53. Dacia's Nasser Al Attiyah has climbed into second place and is now just 07:17 behind his South African rival. In third place is the only remaining Ford driver with a chance of winning this year's Dakar, Mattias Ekstrom, who now sits 09:34 behind Lategan.
Overdrive Racing's Yazeed Al Rajhi is now in 4th place after being hit with yet another time penalty for speeding today. Rajhi is now 11:45 behind Lategan. Toyota's Lucas Moraes is in fifth overall, 19:40 behind the Swede. This year's surprise package on 4 wheels - two-time bike champions Toby Price and Sam Sunderland are in 6th place, 20:17 behind the leader.
9-time WRC champion, Sebastien Loeb, thanks to today's misadventures in the sands is now 16th overall, 01:14:45 behind the leader, while his other Dacia teammate, Cristina Gutierrez, is out of contention for the win and has been moved to the Dakar Experience Class.
Of the other two Ford drivers at Dakar 2025, defending champion Carlos Sainz is out of this year's rally, after his Raptor was deemed unfit to continue by the FIA stewards after he flipped it in the 48-hour Chrono stage. The other Ford driver, Nani Roma Like Dacia's Gutierrez has been moved to the Dakar Experience class.
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