Overview
- Saood Variawa won the 483km Wadi Ad Dawasir loop by three seconds over Henk Lategan for a Toyota 1-2, with Mattias Ekström third despite opening the road.
- Nasser Al-Attiyah kept the overall car lead for Dacia by exactly 4:00 over Ford’s Ekström, with Toyota’s Lategan third at 6:08 as the top five sit within 10:39.
- Luciano Benavides claimed his third stage win in four days and used road-opening bonuses to take the RallyGP lead by 10 seconds from KTM teammate Daniel Sanders, with Honda’s Ricky Brabec third at 4:47.
- Stage 7 set up the swings when Ekström inherited the win after Lategan stopped for roughly 10 minutes late in the special, trimming Al-Attiyah’s advantage and reshuffling the car order.
- Stage 9 begins the first leg of the marathon, where restricted repairs and precise navigation are expected to magnify small errors and mechanical management.