Estonians drop one place to 12th in Dakar Rally

Estonian rally duo Urvo Männama and Risto Lepik (Overdrive) finished in 18th place on the ninth stage of the ongoing Dakar Rally, which meant they dropped one position overall, to 12th.
Stage nine ran 357 kilometers, from Riyadh to Haradh, Saudi Arabia.
Driving a Toyota GR DKR Hilux EVO pickup (pictured), the Estonians lost 21 minutes and 48 seconds to the stage winner Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) and were overtaken in the overall standings by Czech driver Martin Prokop (Ford), whom they now trail by three minutes and 50 seconds.
Post-stage, Lepik said: "Today was once again one of very intense navigation, with many direction changes over a short distance."
"Unfortunately, we made a wrong choice at one point and had to discover a new route," Lepik added.
The most challenging stretch turned out to be the final section of the stage, where there were large rocky fields and numerous different tracks, he noted.
"Today's tally includes one tire puncture, but the important thing is that we are in the camp and ready for the last three days in the sand dunes," Lepik added.
The pair are now two hours, 58 minutes, and 20 seconds behind the overall leader, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota), who after stage nine overtook South African Henk Lategan, who had been in the lead since stage two.
Three stages remain in the Dakar Rally, all of which are shorter than the previous ones.
The shortest of these is the 119-kilometer Haradh–Shubaytah phase, stage 10, which takes place today, Wednesday.
The race ends on Friday.
Despite its name, the Dakar Rally, originally the Paris-Dakar Rally, has taken place in recent years in Saudi Arabia, and before that in South America.
This was due to a deteriorating security situation in some of the countries and regions the original route ran through.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Siim Boikov