South African Giniel de Villiers won the Dakar Rally ninth stage on Tuesday as Nasser al-Attiyah moved closer to clinching his fourth title.
The 51-year-old Qatari had seen Sebastien Loeb nibble away at his extensive lead over the past couple of days.
But with Friday's finish in Jeddah looming France's serial world rally champion has a 39min 05sec deficit to make up on al-Attiyah.
Saudi driver Yazeed al-Rahji is almost an hour adrift after this 287 kilometre stage around Wadi ad-Dawasir.
After a hassle-free day behind the wheel of his Toyota, third-placed al-Attiyah said: "It’s not easy but we are happy to be coming close to the finish."
"We have a good lead," added the Dakar veteran whose previous wins came in 2011 for Volkswagen, 2015 for Mini and three years ago for his current team.
Loeb's only hope now of emerging victorious appears to rest on mechanical misfortune befalling al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel, his trusty French co-driver since 2015.
De Villiers nipped home nine seconds clear on the day from his fellow South African Henk Lategan to take his total of stage wins in the Dakar to 18.
The 49-year-old 2009 champion said it was a mystery to him how he and his car traditionally gets better as the event progresses.
"I must say, the first week was not ideal," he said.
"It was very stressful and mentally very, very tiring.
"Definitely something I would not like to go through again, but that's behind us now.
"I don't know why we often win at the end.
"It would be nice to win at the beginning as well, but we seem to do well the longer the rally goes on, so maybe the rally needs to be three weeks!"
'ONE MISTAKE'
In the bike category Austrian Matthias Walkner deposed British 2017 champion Sam Sunderland as overall leader after a stage won by Jose Cornejo Florimo.
With only three days to go Red Bull KTM rider Walkner moved 2min12sec clear of Sunderland in what is shaping up to be a tense run-in for the two-wheeled title.
Less than five minutes splits the top four riders.
"One mistake can change everything" noted Walkner.
"It's going to be a really, really close fight," he added.
"I've worked for this, to be on the top...If it's enough for a podium or a victory, then I'm super pumped and happy and if not, well, I cannot change it."
Defending bike champion Kevin Benavides took second, Walkner fourth with Sunderland in 14th, over eight minutes behind Florimo.
"It was quite difficult to open the stage, especially in the dunes because the sunlight was quite bad and you couldn’t really see where the drops were," said Sunderland.
"The days are counting down and it's coming towards the finish. In the end, I can only do my best and give it my all. We'll see how we end up."
STAGE 9 RESULTS
STAGE WINNERS
CARS
1. (ZAF) GINIEL DE VILLIERS/DENNIS MURPHY - TOYOTA GAZOO RACING - 02H 23' 08''
2. (ZAF) HENK LATEGAN/BRETT CUMMINGS - TOYOTA GAZOO RACING - + 00H 00' 09''
3. (QAT) NASSER AL-ATTIYAH/MATTHIEU BAUMEL - TOYOTA GAZOO RACING - + 00H 01' 04''
4. (SWE) MATTIAS EKSTROM/EMIL BERGKVIST - TEAM AUDI SPORT - + 00H 02' 07''
5. (FRA) SEBASTIEN LOEB/FABIAN LURQUIN - BAHRAIN RAID XTREME - + 00H 02' 11''
6. (ESP) CARLOS SAINZ/LUCAS CRUZ - TEAM AUDI SPORT - + 00H 02' 48''
7. (FRA) MATHIEU SERRADORI/LOIC MINAUDIER - SRT RACING - + 00H 03' 15''
8. (FRA) STÉPHANE PETERHANSEL/EDOUARD BOULANGER - TEAM AUDI SPORT - + 00H 03' 45''
9. (ZAF) BRIAN BARAGWANATH/LEONARD CREMER - CENTURY RACING - + 00H 04' 03''
10. (ESP) NANI ROMA/ALEX HARO BRAVO - BAHRAIN RAID XTREME - + 00H 04' 19''
BIKES
1. (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - 02H 29' 30''
2. (ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES - RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING - + 00H 01' 26''
3. (USA) RICKY BRABEC - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - + 00H 01' 47''
4. (AUT) MATTHIAS WALKNER - RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING - + 00H 02' 06''
5. (ESP) JOAN BARREDA BORT - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - + 00H 02' 10''
6. (USA) ANDREW SHORT - MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM - + 00H 03' 56''
7. (ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES - HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING - + 00H 04' 21''
8. (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - + 00H 05' 02''
9. (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN - MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM - + 00H 05' 04''
10. (POL) MACIEJ GIEMZA - ORLEN TEAM - + 00H 06' 40''
OVERALL STANDINGS
CARS
1. (QAT) NASSER AL-ATTIYAH/MATTHIEU BAUMEL - TOYOTA GAZOO RACING - 30H 15' 04''
2. (FRA) SEBASTIEN LOEB/FABIAN LURQUIN - BAHRAIN RAID XTREME - + 00H 34' 05''
3. (SAU) YAZEED AL RAJHI/MICHAEL ORR - OVERDRIVE TOYOTA - + 00H 53' 44''
4. (ARG) ORLANDO TERRANOVA/DANIEL OLIVERAS CARRERAS - BAHRAIN RAID XTREME - + 01H 31' 09''
5. (ZAF) GINIEL DE VILLIERS/DENNIS MURPHY - TOYOTA GAZOO RACING - + 01H 40' 01''
6. (POL) JAKUB PRZYGONSKI/TIMO GOTTSCHALK - X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM - + 01H 41' 04''
7. (RAF) VLADIMIR VASILYEV/OLEG UPERENKO - VRT TEAM - + 01H 43' 33''
8. (CZE) MARTIN PROKOP/VIKTOR CHYTKA - BENZINA ORLEN TEAM - + 01H 59' 28''
9. (ARG) SEBASTIAN HALPERN/BERNARDO GRAUE - X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM - + 02H 09' 52''
10. (FRA) MATHIEU SERRADORI/LOIC MINAUDIER - SRT RACING - + 02H 28' 42''
BIKES
1. (AUT) MATTHIAS WALKNER - RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING - 30H 14' 03''
2. (GBR) SAM SUNDERLAND - GASGAS FACTORY RACING - + 00H 02' 12''
3. (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN - MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM - + 00H 03' 56''
4. (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - + 00H 04' 41''
5. (ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES - RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING - + 00H 10' 22''
6. (ESP) JOAN BARREDA BORT - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - + 00H 10' 57''
7. (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO- MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - + 00H 32' 30''
8. (USA) ANDREW SHORT - MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM - + 00H 34' 59''
9. (AUS) TOBY PRICE - RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING - + 00H 35' 14''
10. (USA) RICKY BRABEC - MONSTER ENERGY HONDA - 30H 49' 57'' + 00H 35' 54'' 00H 02' 00''