Summarize

08h55 bikes SA two-wheel heroes David Thomas lies 34th overall, Donovan van de Langeberg 54th and Willem du Toit 59th overall overnight as we await news on last man standing Gerry van der Byl

08h50 cars Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte will set off to the finish holding a strong rookie lead after an untroubled run to 26th on Friday to move up to 26th overall on a wicked Dakar day.

Friday may not have been the thirteenth of the month, but it was Dakar’s thirteenth day and it wreaked havoc with leading competitors across the board. Mr Dakar, Stephane Peterhansel crashed his Peugeot early in the day to tumble down the field from his second position; then Bernhard ten Brinke, who had hardly just inherited third from Peterhansel, stopped when his Toyota suffered a mechanical failure, while Giniel de Villiers was slowed by a misfire on his Hilux.

The drama was not limited to the cars though, Californian Honda Rider Ricky Brabec’s machine caught fire, causing his exit from sixth in the bike race and local Argentine truck hero Federico Villagra stumbled from his fight for the truck lead when his Iveco ground to a halt in a dramatic day that fundamentally changed the face of the race, with just a 120km stage left to run to the finish in Cordoba Saturday.

The car race started with scrap between Toyota trio ten Brinke, Al Attiyah, and de Villiers as Toyota privateer Alvares with SA navigator Rob Howie joined the scrap ahead of overall race leader Carlos Sainz’ Peugeot, with Peterhansel back in ninth and off the pace 7 minutes adrift. Then Peterhansel crashed his Peugeot heavily for the second tome four days and no sooner had the Toyotas moved up into second, third and fourth, than ten Brinkes engine broke.

All of which left Al Attiyah to take an easy stage win from a delighted Villagra and Howie, with de Villiers third in a Toyota 1-2-3 ahead of the Minis of Mikko Hirvonen and Jakub Przygonski provisionally in fourth and fifth from Sainz in sixth. Sainz heads into the final day with a 46 minute lead over Al Attiyah, with de Villiers third, half an hour behind, with Peterhansel dropping to fourth ahead of Przygonski and Sheikh Rashiid Al Qassimi provisionally closing off the top six

South African TreasuryOne Amarok privateers Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte meanwhile moved into the car rookie lead overnight and sat in 29th in Friday’s stage at the time of writing.

Brabec’s fiery demise left a four-way fight for second in the bike race as overall leader, Austrian rider Mattihas Walkner sat back to allow KTM teammates Toby Price and Antoine Meo fight it out with Honda’s Argentinian home hero Kevin Benavides on a Honda. Price took the day’s stage by two minutes from Benavides with Meo third from Walkner, who will go into the final day with a 21 minute lead over Benavides, who leads Price by 5 minutes and Meo not too far behind.

Of the South African motorcyclists, David Thomas brought his Husqvarna home a fine 26th, while Donovan van de Langeberg was still running in 48th, Willem du Toit 68th and Gerry van der Byl 84th.

Local hero Jeromias Gonzales to a popular quad victory on home sol as Ignacio Casale came home fourth to take an hour and a half lead intot he short final fling, while Villagra’sdemise in the trucks left Edoard Nikolaiev in a lead of almist four hours.

One would normally say that Saturday’s 120km last dance around Cordoba’s world championship rally stages to be a simple romp home, but after all the drama of Friday’s 13th stage of Dakar 2018, it seems nobody will be taking any chances before that fat lady sings. Follow the action on TreasuryOne’s Dakar Live Blog at www.motorsportmedia.co.za from 14h00 Saturday.

00h40 cars Giniel de Villiers nurses his Hilux home 13 minutes behind Attiyah - that should see him up to third overall behind Sainz and his teammate...

00h20 cars Nasser Al Attiyah is the first car home

00h05 cars Stephane Peterhansel is now over an hour behind, which mens with ten Brinke's demise, he should end up fourth overall today behind overall leader Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers, whom we understand is nursing his Hilux home  - unless of course cruel Day 13  has something else sinister up its sleeve...

00h00 bikes David Thomas rides his Husqvarna home a fine 26th

23h30 all As usual, the Dakar timing system stops - now we must wait for the final control

23h25 trucks The Day 13 Friday drama continues as nor Federico Villagra retires!

23h20 cars Now Bernhard ten Brinke retires - his Toyota has apparently suffered a mechanical failure...

22h45 cars - Al Attiyah is 8 minutes ahead of de Villiers with Sainz next up at WP5 but ten Brinke, who left the break first has not yet shown up on the timing...

22h30 bikes South Africa's four bikers are all still in the running - David Thomas is approaching the finish in a fine 24tg, Donovan van de Langeberg sits 48th, Willem du Toit 68th and Gerry van der Byl 84th. Thomas sits 39th overall, van de Langeberg and du Toit 55th and 56th and van der Byl last but not least 86th overall 

22:25 bikes Walkner is home fourth. He will take a 21 minute lead into the short run home tomorrow

22h00 bikes Price comes home first - he's taken 2 minutes out od Benavides to close down to 5 minutes behind the Honda. This one's going down to the line.. Meo ends third, 40 sec odd Benavides

22:00 - cars The cars get going again - at last!

21h00 - bikes The fight continues for second - Benavides passes Meo for second, closes the gap down to 49s behind leader on the road Price to control his second overall

20h30 - trucks Now Dakar's nasty Day 13 Friday is affecting the trucks where local hero Federico Villagra has lost an hour and a half . The Argentine was a second off the overall lead last night but now his challenge to overall leader Nikolaiev's Kamaz has faded

20h15 - bikes Aussie Toby Price is stretching the legs of his KTM as he leads the way with teammate Antoine Meo and Honda rider, Argentine hero Kevin Benavides  in close pursuit, while overall leader Mathias Walkner keeps a watching brief in fourth. Price has taken two minutes out of second man Benavides' 8-minute advantage so far today, while Meo has passed Farres Guell for fourth - the rac is on for the lower podium steps on two wheels...

19h25 - bikes Friday's 13th day of Dakar 2018 is finally underway again as the leading bikes head off into the second section. Hold onto your hats if the first part was anything to go by - this party is by no means over...

17h35 all With just a quarter of today's stage mileage done,  Friday's 13th stage is proving to be a cruel one with Stephane Peterhansel in trouble and falling down the leaderboard and now Ricky Brabec retiring from sixth in the bikes...

17h30 bikes more drama as Ricky Brabec drops out of 6th overall after his Honda caught fire - he tried in vain to fix it before calling it quits 

17h20 cars Peterhansel loses another team minutes into the neutralisation control. He has now officially dropped to fifth. So ainz now leads Attiyah by 57m 35s with ten Brinke moving onto the podium  nine minutes further back and 17 minutes clear of Giniel and Peterhansel 6 minutes behind him...

17h05 cars Peterhansel limps into CP2 46 minutes behind the leaders. That means he is now dicing de Villiers for fourth with Attiyah second overall behind Sainz with  Ten Brinke third...

16h25 cars Ten Brinke comes into the neutralisation contril 1m38s ahead of Attiyah - de Villiers is next but he's lost 7 minutes in the stage

16h20 -cars South Africa's Dakar rookie leaders, TreasuryOne duo Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte have taken the Ford V8 powered Amarok now sporting one Hilux headlight through WP1 in 21st. Read more about the Pretoria privateers' exploits here

16h10 - cars Stéphane Peterhansel has crashed heavily again and damaged his Peugeot - he's waiting for help and looks set to lose his second place to the chasing Toyotas....

15h50 cars- Bernhard ten Brinke led a Toyota 1-2-3-4 at WP1 with Giniel de Villiers second from privateer Lucio Alvares and Nasser Al Attiyah. Carlos Sainz was best of the Peugeots in fifth with Stephane Peterhansel some way off the pace in ninth an 7m27s off the pace at CP1

15h40 - bikes The bikes have checked into the day's termination point at the third checkpoint with KTM duo Ricky Brabec a minute ahead of Antoine Meo and Kevin Benavides third for Honda ahead of overall leader Mathias Walkner's KTM