Murmungee’s David Brock has been given a lifeline in his Dakar Rally quest as the tumultuous race reaches its final stages.

Brock thought his rally dreams were all but lost prior to the halfway point of the race on Friday, after he stalled about 90km from the completion of stage six.

A back injury he had sustained days prior had been aggravated by the challenging conditions faced by him and his motorbike and the 55-year-old made the “difficult” call for assistance.

Initially, Brock was ruled out of the official rankings of the race, but said still intended on completing the rally on his own tuition.

But on Monday the 55-year-old’d told SBS Australia his team, Joyride Race Service, had discovered an anomaly in the disqualification and took it to the race stewards, who revoked their decision and handed Brock a two-hour time penalty.

“If I do finish the event, I can be considered a finisher now,” he said.

“It’s invaluable when you have times like this and it changes everything… it’s great news.”

After covering more than 1500km in stages seven and eight alone, Brock now sits 91st overall out of the remaining 97 riders.

Attending the rally in 2023 as a fan of the race, Brock set out to complete a dream and compete in the event over the past 18 months.

Debuting in rally bike competition two years ago, Brock did enough to qualify for Dakar and earn himself on the starting grid of 115.

Just four stages remain in the rally, finishing on 17 January.

Fellow Australian and reigning champion Daniel Sanders is just 10 seconds behind the leader of the bike rally.