By Mutlu Demirtastan
ISTANBUL (AA) – Swedish Mattias Ekstrom won stage 11 of the 2025 Dakar Rally on the 275-kilometer course in the city of Shubaytah, while Spanish Tosha Schareina took the lead in the bikes.
In the cars, Ekstrom from the Ford M-Sport team achieved the best time of 4 hours 19 minutes 27 seconds, his first stage win of the year.
Five-time Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar (Dacia Sandriders) finished second by 41 seconds, with Yazeed Al Rajhi of Saudi Arabia (Overdrive) third, 1 minute 45 seconds behind the leader.
South Africa's Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo), who led the general classification after eight stages, was disappointed to finish 5th, 10 minutes 23 seconds behind the leader.
In the general classification, Al Rajhi took the lead with a time of 51 hours 53 minutes 36 seconds, 6 minutes 11 seconds ahead of Lategan before the final stage.
- Schareina's 1st stage win in bikes
In the 152-kilometer stage in the bikes category, Tosha Schareina from the Monster Energy Honda team left her rivals behind with 2 hours, 12 minutes, and 4 seconds.
The Spanish rider, who took his first stage win, was followed by Argentina's Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM) by 33 seconds and Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) by 57 seconds.
Australian Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM), who has five stage wins, maintained his position at the top of the general classification with a time of 52 hours 13 minutes 34 seconds, 9 minutes ahead of Schareina.
The Dakar Rally will end on Friday with the 61-kilometer stage 12 in Shubaytah.
* Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp