Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah’s strategy of playing it safe saw him move a step closer to retaining his Dakar Rally title and his fifth in all following Tuesday’s ninth stage.

The 52-year-old Toyota driver finished 11min 8sec adrift of the stage winner, nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb.

However, the pressure further eased on Al-Attiyah as his closest pursuer overnight, the South driver African Henk Lategan, suffered a mechanical problem and lost 40 minutes.

Al-Attiyah holds a lead of 1hr 21min over another Toyota driver, Brazil’s Lucas Moraes, with Loeb a further 19min in arrears.

“Today we did a really good job without any mistakes, without any problems,” said Al-Attiyah, bidding to become the first back to back winner since ‘Mr Dakar’ Stephane Peterhansel in 2016/17.

“We need to take it day by day like this without any problems. We have a big gap now and I hope to finish and to win this Dakar.”

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