Molly Taylor has clawed her way back into the overall top 10 in the SSV class of the Dakar Rally with a personal-best stage result.

She and co-driver Dale Moscatt finished sixth on Stage 9 and are now back to 10th in the rally classification, 5:27:41s behind pace-setting Can-Am Factory South Racing team-mate Austin Jones.

Taylor also finished sixth on Stage 1A, the prologue, and had not been any worse than 12th on any day, save for when she “banana-ed” a wishbone with a big impact on Stage 4.

The latest, 287km special, which ran in a loop near Wadi Ad Dawasir, was far more straightforward.

“It was a super-fast stage; a little bit of dunes and a lot of really fast tracks, and quite a lot of rough, rocky, stony areas too,” she reported on social media.

“We ended up P6 so really happy, all in all, with today,” added the Dakar rookie.

“Certainly, our cleanest run of the rally so far, so we’ve got to chalk that one up.

“Certainly, some great learnings with the car, and everything’s feeling good, so we’re really looking forward to Day 10 tomorrow.”

Marek Goczal (Cobant-Energylandia Rally Team) again won the stage.

Other classes

Kamaz-Master’s Dmitry Sotnikov still leads in the Trucks, although his advantage over team-mate Eduard Nikolaev was trimmed to 8:51s with the latter’s stage win.

In Quads, Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha Racing – SMX) is still on top, as is Francisco Lopez Contardo (EKS – South Racing) in Light Prototypes.

Three stages remain in Dakar 2022, the next being a 759km journey from Wadi Ad Dawasir to Bisha which includes a 375km special.

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CLICK HERE for extended highlights of Stage 9