2020 Dakar Stage 5 took place on a 353 km route between Al-Ula and Hail in Saudia Arabia earlier today. Humongous rocks served as landmarks to avoid costly navigational mistakes. Less technical but just as impressive as dunes, gigantic sandy hills stood to attention in front of the drivers. The descents, occasionally scattered with desert grass required technical driving skills.

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Fast start

Local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi made another fast start today as he led the car category after 100 km of the special. The pace was hot and Nasser Al-Attiyah moved into the lead after 152 km. But the Qatari was passed on the timesheets after a hundred km. Carlos Sainz grabbed the stage lead after 250 km. The two-time winner of the Dakar moved into the lead, just 12 seconds in front of Nasser Al-Attiyah and 6 minutes clear of Stéphane Peterhansel.

Second win of 2020

Carlos Sainz held on to win his second special in 2020. In doing so he reinforced his lead in the general standings. The Mini driver finished almost 3 minutes ahead of his main rival Al-Attiyah, while Stéphane Peterhansel finished the day 6 minutes behind the Spaniard. Al Rajhi was classified fourth and South African Giniel de Villiers was sixth behind Orlando Terranova.

Sainz’s lead in the overall standings is now almost six minutes over Al-Attiyah, with Peterhansel nearly 18 minutes off the lead. See below for more info.

Click here for our Stage 4 report.

Other categories

After winning stage four, front-runner in the bike class Sam Sunderland will play no further part in the event. The Englishman fell out during 2020 Dakar Stage 5 injuring his left shoulder and back. Toby Price won the 5th stage by 1 min 12 seconds in front of Pablo Quintanilla.

  1. Sainz
  2. Al-Attiyah+5 min 59 sec
  3. Peterhansel +17 min 53 sec
  4. Al-Rajhi +31 min 39 sec
  5. Terranova +32 min 05 sec
  6. Serradori +44 min 44 sec
  7. De Villiers +46 min 26 sec
  8. Ten Brinke +1 hr 04 min 44 sec