The lead changed hands again in the Dakar Rally and with just one stage remaining, South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, now need a small miracle if they want to win their maiden Dakar title.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing duo finished fifth in today’s 11th stage in and around Shubaytah in Saudi Arabia, but more crucially, seven minutes and 22 seconds behind their Overdrive Racing rivals, Saudi national Yazeed Al Rajhi and his German navigator, Timo Gottschalk.

Al Rajhi and Gottschalk crossed the finish line in third place and will take a lead of almost five minutes into Friday’s final stage with a timed section of only 61 kilometres.

The Swedish duo of Mattias Ekstrom and Emil Bergkvist in a Ford M-Sport won today’s stage in four hours, 19 minutes and 27 seconds.

They finished 41 seconds ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and Frenchman Edouard Boulanger in a Sandrider.