2022 Dakar Rally Stage 5 was another long one for the cars and trucks. The special is 421-km long loop around Riyadh for the cars and trucks. The very same terrain will be used for stage six, but in the reverse direction.

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Out of contention

SA hopeful Giniel de Villiers received some bad news overnight. The 2009 Dakar winner received a five-hour time penalty for an incident with a biker early in the week. This was the second infringement for the Capetonian, the first was a five-minute penalty handed down for a failure to assist a biker who had fallen in front of him on special 1B.

The second was meted out for having knocked into a biker and driving over his bike. For the latter of the two, de Villiers confirmed that it was accidental and that he was sincerely sorry. De Villiers has offered to pay for the replacement of the bike and the rider’s entry fees for the 2023 Dakar.

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Ding dong battle

At the first time check, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) lost more than one minute to his nearest rivals. After 81 km, Carlos Sainz (Audi) moved ahead of Sébastien Loeb by the slimmest of margins. South African Henk Lategan (TGR) put in another impressive performance, lighting up the timesheets and taking the provisional lead early in the stage. He would relinquish the temporary lead to Stephane Peterhansel (Audi).

There was more drama for the Audi team in its very first Dakar as Carlos Sainz had been stationary at km 201 for almost half an hour. It turned out that the Spaniard had suspension troubles. His teammate Peterhansel stopped to donate his suspension to El Matador. Sainz lost more than an hour changing his suspension and tumbled down the order.

Late charge

Henk Lategan took advantage of Stéphane Peterhansel stopping to help Sainz and regained the lead after 198 km. Mattias Ekstrom in the third Audi was a single second slower than the Hilux at the same marker. About 100 km later Lategan surged into a 1 min 30-sec lead ahead of Lucio Alvarez. The former seemed to have door troubles with his Hilux as the driver’s side remained open through much of the stage.

Stage winner

When all the front runners had crossed the line it was Lategan who took his first stage win in the gruelling event. He denied Loeb the win by 1 min 58 sec. Alvarez kept up his pace to claim the final podium spot and moves into third on the overall leaderboard. Giniel de Villiers was sixth on the stage but falls to 17th overall.

First and second on the overall leaderboard, Al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb, were content to shadow each other through most of the stage. Loeb put in a late charge to open a bit of a lead over Al-Attiyah on the stage. The Frenchman crossed the line 2 min 55 sec ahead of the Qatari. Al-Attiyah, who finished the day seventh, still maintains a healthy lead over the BRX crew (see top ten in the cars below).

General classification after 2022 Dakar Stage 5

  1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Gazoo Hilux) 17 hr 24 min 23 sec
  2. Sébastien Loeb (BRX) + 35 min 10 sec
  3. Lucio Alvarez (Overdrive Hilux) + 51 min 15 sec
  4. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Hilux) +1 hr 06 min 23 sec
  5. Vladimir Vasilyev (VRT) +1hr 07 min 52 sec
  6. Jakub Przygonski (X-Raid Mini) +1 hr 10 min 24 sec
  7. Sebastian Halpern (X-Raid Mini) +1 hr 22 min 01 sec
  8. Orlando Terranova (BRX) +1 hr 25 min 16 sec
  9. Martin Prokop (Orlen) +1 hr 31 min 01 sec
  10. Mathieu Serradori (SRT) +2 hr 07 min 49 sec

Learn about the overnight camp used at the Dakar Rally, called Bivouac, in the video below: