Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel became the sixth different winner in this year’s Dakar Rally after winning stage five by 1:51 over a squadron of Overdrive Toyota Hilux T1Us filling the next three slots. It was Al-Attiyah’s first victory for the Prodrive Hunter after switching camps in the off-season.
The shortest stage of the Dakar at 118km, from Al-Hofuf to Shubaytah was a dune-fest albeit with a substantial 508km liaison section to reach the day’s playground.
It was perhaps a foregone conclusion that a Qatari or Saudi driver would dominate in their backyard although strategy was also in play with Thursday and Friday’s 48 hr ‘chrono’ stage looming large.
At the first waypoint, the top 12 were all within one minute of Al-Attiyah, headed by Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq in their Overdrive Toyota – one of six of the South African-built Hilux T1Us in the top ten.
Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger headed the Audi onslaught in their RS Q e-tron, one second up on stage one winner Guillaume de Meuvis/Xavier Panseri (Toyota) two seconds up on the overall leader Yazeed Al Rajhi/Timo Gottschalk.
Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz repaid Toyota Gazoo Racing’s all-nighter by crossing the first waypoint in 10th.
Move another 41km into Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter and it was still Al-Attiyah from Chicherit, who started the morning in 23rd position but the gap had widened to 51 seconds with Al Rajhi a full minute back. Argentinian Juan Cruz Yacopini/Daniel Carreras put in their best performance so far in their Overdrive Hilux, holding fourth ahead of some very big names in Rally Raid.
Peterhansel followed in fifth ahead of Loeb who started first and had already given up two minutes and dropped to seventh. Quintero/Zenz and Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy were both having far better days in eight and ninth respectively, restoring smiles in the TGR camp.
As the cars stormed to the end of the stage, Al-Attiyah was 1:51 ahead of Chicherit and moved into second place overall, nine minutes behind Al Rajhi. “For me there is no strategy, just I was pushing, I need to win the stage, because it’s a long, tomorrow it’s 600 kilometers, I don’t care if I open, I lose time, but I need to manage to finish all the 600 kilometers,” said Al-Attiyah.
Yacopini, Al Rajhi and De Meuvis followed, finishing ahead of a staggering result for Francisco Lopez Contardo/Juan Pablo Latrach Vinagre in their Can-Am Maverick and the first Challenger car home.
TGR’s De Villiers was seventh, his best result so far. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist was the top Audi in eighth followed by two more Challengers, another Can-Am Maverick of American Austin Jones/Gustavo Gugelmin and Eryk Goczal/Oriol Mena in the leading Taurus Challenger.
Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka had another steady drive in their Orlen Jipocar Ford Raptor with Vaidotas Zala/Paulo Fiuza (X-Raid Mini JCW) claiming 11th and 12th respectively
The Audis of Sainz and Peterhansel filled 26th and 27th. Peterhansel played the strategic game: “We were not firing on all cylinders. We stopped for 5 minutes, but I don’t think anyone’s really sure what the right strategy is.”
And what of Sebastian Loeb, you might ask? Having started first on the road, he would have been ninth but received a 15 minute penalty for missing a waypoint, dropping from third to ninth in the overall standings 43 minutes off the lead.
Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon has a small roll in their TGR Hilux T1U, nothing too serious but they had to wait for someone to help right the car.
Top 3 Overall:
Al Rajhi, Al-Attiyah (+9:03), Sainz (+11:31)
Botswana’s Ross Branch retook the Dakar 2024 lead on his Hero as Chilean Pablo Quintanilla’s Honda won Wednesday’s short, sharp 118 km stage.
Quintanilla took advantage of his low 18th place starting position to lead Honda teammate Ricky Brabec, defending champion Luciano Benavides’ Husqvarna, Toby Price on his factory KTM, and Frenchman Adrien van Beveren at the first 35 km waypoint.
Overnight Honda leader Nacho Florimo finished 13th meaning Ross Branch moved back into bike lead he had held from the start until yesterday. He leads Florimo by a minute and 14 seconds, with Brabec third 2½ minutes adrift
