Starting the day as the first car on the road, Henk Lategan was forced to relinquish his top spot during the 357-kilometre stage.
The Toyota driver encountered problems early in the stage, eventually finishing 16 minutes behind the day’s fastest time set by Nasser Al-Attiyah. As a result, the South African dropped from first to second overall, behind Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi.
“It’s a bit of a disaster, to be honest. About 13 kilometres in, we got lost. When we got lost, we had one puncture, and then towards the end, we had another one,” Lategan explained.
“It was a messy day for us, but it’s not the end of the world. We’re still in it, but it’s definitely a bit disappointing.”
In the overall standings, Al-Rajhi now holds a seven-minute lead over Lategan. On Tuesday’s stage, he finished third behind Al-Attiyah and Guillaume de Mevius.
“We did a great job, just as we planned. We enjoyed it, and that’s the most important thing. I hope everything goes well over the next two or three days so we can win the Dakar. It won’t be easy, but we will fight to the end,” Al-Rajhi commented.
M-Sport Ford’s Mattias Ekström remains third overall, just under 25 minutes behind the leader. Al-Attiyah, who set the fastest time on the stage, is fourth and closing in on the Swede.
The Dakar Rally continues on Wednesday with the 10th stage. The day begins with a 520-kilometre liaison, followed by a 120-kilometre timed section over the dunes.
The Dakar Rally concludes on Friday.
Dakar Rally standings after stage 9/12:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
| 1. | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Toyota | 45:06:54 |
| 2. | Henk Lategan | Toyota | +7:09 |
| 3. | Mattias Ekström | Ford | +24:50 |
| 4. | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Dacia | +25:21 |
| 5. | Mitchell Guthrie | Ford | +56:28 |
| 6. | Mathieu Serradori | Century | +1:06:52 |
| 7. | Juan Yacopini | Toyota | +1:44:41 |
| 8. | Seth Quintero | Toyota | +1:46:07 |
