After Saturday's rest day, the 2022 Dakar Rally c𒈔ontinued in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with Stage 7 of 12.

Competitors faced a challenging 402km timed stage 🍸comprising of sand dunes, canyons and riverbeds.

Monster Energy Honda's Jose Ignacio Cornejo was fastest was a time of 3hr 28m 46s, on a day that saw Yamaha's Adrien Van Bever🐓en ta✅ke over the rally lead from GASGAS competitor Sam Sunderland.

Former MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci, an emotional winner of Stage 5, had hurt his elbow in a heavy accident on Stage 6 - subsequently halted due to the dangerously chewed-up surface left by four-wheel vehicles - and was still riding sore today as he finished 27-minutes behind 🌊Cornejo.

Combined with some technical issues and a 23-minute time penalty, Petrucci was pushed outside the top 40 in the Stage standings. But with the Italian already out of overall Dakar contention due to a Stage 2 electrical problem forcing his KTM to be recovered, Petrucci's main priority is to continue learning the specialist event and reach🦹 the fiꦐnish in Jeddah on January 14.

After almost 24-hours of competitive riding, Van Beveren will start Stage 8🍌 with a 5min 12s advantage over Petrucci's factory KTM team-mate Matthias Walkner. But with the top six in the bike category all currently covered by just 6min 34s, much could yet change...