The 2025 Dakar Rally has hit the one-third mark. While there is still plenty of racing to go, Toyota’s quest for a fourth victory has gone well so far. The Japanese manufacturer only reinforced that notion on Wednesday with a dominant Stage #4 as Hiluxes swept the FIA podium with Yazeed Al-Rajhi leading Henk Lategan and Juan Cruz Yacopini.

Al-Rajhi dominated the stage from start to finish, never losing the lead with Lategan in tow. Yacopini narrowly held off Martin Prokop by just ten seconds to join his fellow Hilux drivers on the podium.

Toyota’s success stands in contrast to its former driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, who completed the dubious trifecta of Dacia misfortune. Al-Attiyah, who was second overall, suffered a rash of mechanical issues that relegated him to 19th and dropped him five spots in the general ranking. Al-Rajhi moves up to second behind Lategan.

As she did when their other teammate Sébastien Loeb crashed out in Stage #3, Cristina Gutiérrez came by to provide help. Gutiérrez was knocked out of contention by a steering problem the stage prior, effectively meaning Dacia had been whacked by car problems in three straight legs.

“We stopped twice today. Once for a puncture and the second time for a broken rear arm,” Al-Attiyah said. “We waited for Cristina and then we fixed it. It was not an easy stage for us but we finished it. The car is okay for tomorrow and we have plenty of spare parts.”

Like Toyota, Can-Am was surely pleased with its drivers’ performances on Wednesday. Sara Price, who became the first American woman to win a stage last year, led a Maverick R 1–2 in SSV ahead of Stage #3 winner Francisco López Contardo. Brock Heger from rival Polaris received a 15-minute penalty but still finished third and maintains a safe lead in the overall.

On the other hand, Kove Moto was probably hoping for a better day had just enough swung its way. Mason Klein dominated the bikes for the first half of the stage despite dealing with severe tendonitis in his right arm. Unfortunately, dry eyes forced him to slow down and relegated him to last in RallyGP.

In Rally2, another Kove 450 Rally piloted by Neels Theric showed impressive pace. He and Klein even led their respective classes through the 100-kilometer mark before the KTMs caught up to him. Theric ultimately finished fifth in class.

While not as grueling as the Chrono Stage two legs earlier, Stage #4 was held under marathon conditions and victims quickly racked up on the run to Al-‘Ula. Guillaume de Mévius, who struggled to a 36th in Ultimate, explained the stage was “supposed to be rocky only at the beginning, but it was full of rocks throughout. We had a total of four punctures. We had to change two, repair one tire, and fix a rim. It was disappointing.”

The terrain was RallyGP competitor Martin Michek’s demise as a rock shredded the chain on his bike. As a result, he retired from the Dakar for the first time in his career.

Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli, eighth in SSV after three stages, retired with a mechanical issue as did Maverick R compatriot Manuel Andújar. Rally2 rider Robbie Wallace fell off his bike and hit his head, briefly knocking him unconscious and hurting his lower back.

“The good news is I’m fine and I’ll live to fight another day,” wrote Wallace.

The Dakar Classic wasn’t any prettier in the desert as many cars got stuck in the dunes. Cédric Zolliker’s Toyota HDJ80 overshot a dune and flipped onto its roof. Giuseppe Simonato withdrew from the race because his mechanic Alessio Bentivoglio suffered a vertebra injury.

For the first time since Stage #11 in 2024, Mission 1000 saw multiple stage winners as Jordi Juvanteny’s truck and Yoshio Ikemachi’s HySE-X2 each earned 15 points, ten for completing the full distance and another five for beating the reference time of 1:44:00.

Stage #4 winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Ultimate	1	201	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Overdrive Racing	4:26:40
Challenger	28	301	Nicolás Cavigliasso	BBR Motorsport	5:07:43
SSV	36	405	Sara Price	Can-Am Factory Team	5:13:38
Stock	97	501	Ronald Basso*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	6:41:26
Truck	23	600	Martin Macík Jr.*	MM Technology	5:02:46

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
RallyGP	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	5:10:33
Rally2	6	96	Tobias Ebster	BAS World KTM Racing Team	5:20:47

Other

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Points
Dakar Classic	700	Carlos Santaolalla	Factory Tub	50
Mission 1000	1030, 1040	Yoshio Ikemachi, Jordi Juvanteny	HySE, KH-7 Ecovergy Team	15

Leaders after Stage #4

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Ultimate	1	211	Henk Lategan	Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa	23:36:24
Challenger	14	301	Nicolás Cavigliasso	BBR Motorsport	25:32:26
SSV	24	425	Brock Heger*	Sébastien Loeb Racing	26:25:40
Stock	99	501	Ronald Basso*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	36:44:05
Truck	19	600	Martin Macík Jr.*	MM Technology	26:08:56

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
RallyGP	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	25:15:33
Rally2	12	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	26:21:42

Other

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Points
Dakar Classic	701	Lorenzo Traglio	Tecnosport	295
Mission 1000	1040	Jordi Juvanteny	KH-7 Ecovergy Team	95

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI