Dacia Sandriders looked to have claimed its first ever Dakar Rally stage win, as Nasser Al-Attiyah blitzed the field by nearly 10 minutes – only for a 10-minute penalty to strip him of it.
Having lost over half an hour after encountering mechanical difficulties on stage four, five-time winner Al-Attiyah and navigator Edouard Boulanger were in fine form as they dominated the challenging 428km test from AlUla.
He initially beat Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Seth Quintero by 9m59s but the penalty dropped Al-Attiyah to second in the stage classification and means his gap to third-placed Mattias Ekström stands at 17 minutes.
Al-Attiyah’s penalty – for arriving at the finish without a spare wheel after changing a puncture during the stage – means Toyota’s run of consecutive stage wins on the 47th edition of the Dakar remains intact. The Japanese brand has taken every stage scratch time since the start of the rally – including the pre-event prologue.
Ekström and Bergkvist had been going toe-to-toe with Al-Attiyah at the midway point of the stage, closing to just 41s adrift before losing time due to a late navigation mistake.
“It’s been a very good day, driving wise I would say it has been by far my best day of the rally. We had one mountain that we crossed on the wrong side, so we had to make a U-turn, so we maybe lost some minutes.
“The first week I have been happy with my driving sometimes, we’ve not always been spot on with the setup. Navigation wise we are still learning, Emil and me, but I am very happy with the first week.”
Henk Lategan, who finished third on the stage, continues to lead the overall rally for Toyota Gazoo Racing with an increased margin of 10m17s from another Toyota Hilux, Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk who lost valuable time on the stage after opening the road.
Lategan leads the rally by over 10 minutes for Toyota as the Dakar heads into its rest day
The stage formed the second part of the marathon stage in which crews had to manage outside technical assistance and proved to be one of the most demanding tests of the Dakar so far.
The mix of sinuous and rocky sections at the start and in the final 50km meant that navigation was of paramount importance, while the risk of punctures remained a constant threat.
This was particularly felt by 2009 Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers, who ran out of spare tires after puncturing twice and was forced to wait on his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mates.
Al-Attiyah, who needs just two more stage wins to match the overall record shared by Stéphane Peterhansel and Ari Vatanen, is now 14m06s behind Ekström in the overall standings after his penalty
Lucas Moraes moved past Mitch Guthrie to lie fifth before the rest day, with just under a minute splitting the pair; three minutes further back is Mathieu Serradori in the best of the Century Racing CR7s.
Overall Classification (after stage 5)
1 Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 28h10m11s
2 Yazeed Al Rajhi/Timo Gottschalk (Overdrive Racing Toyota) +10m17s
3 Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (M-Sport Ford) +20m54s
4 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Edouard Boulanger (Dacia Sandriders) +35m00s
5 Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +41m55s
6 Mitch Guthrie Jr/Kellon Walch (M-Sport Ford) +42m44s
7 Mathieu Serradori/Loïc Minaudier (Century Racing CR7) +45m59s
8 Juan Cruz Yacopini/Dani Oliveras Carreras (Overdrive Racing Toyota) +1h03m17s
9 Seth Quintero/Denniz Zenz (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +1h30m10s
10 Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winoq (X-raid Mini JCW) +1h38m45s
