Dakar Rally race director David Castera has said that the race in the Kingdom was safe and that sufficient measures have been put in place thanks to Saudi authorities to ensure the safety of the rally.
A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said on Friday that preliminary findings of the investigation into an incident involving a French driver did not find any evidence of criminal suspicion.
Meanwhile, a navigation error by Sebastien Loeb allowed Nasser Al-Attiyah to extend his lead to 49 minutes halfway through the Dakar Rally on Friday.
Loeb started the sixth stage, a loop course east of Riyadh, 35 minutes behind in second overall but lost his bearings with Henk Lategan -- the stage five winner -- about a third of the way into the 348-kilometer special.
After two-thirds of the stage they were 25 minutes behind Al-Attiyah, who was leading the stage back to the Saudi capital. But a desperately fast finish by Loeb made up 10 minutes and he lost 15 1/2 in the end to Al-Attiyah.
Loeb also lost second place overall to local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi, who was third on the stage.
Only three minutes separate Al Rajhi, Loeb and fourth-placed Giniel de Villiers, the former champion who had a five-hour time penalty rescinded after a review on Friday. He hit a motorbike after jumping over a dune on Wednesday, but the rider fell off only seconds beforehand and de Villiers managed to avoid the rider but not the bike. Officials agreed it was an unavoidable accident.
But Al-Attiyah remained the overall leader, as he has since the rally started last Saturday.
