The fourth stage of the 2025 Dakar was the first of a two-part ‘marathon. That stage was won by local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi (as you can read at this link). The second part of which was 2025 Dakar Stage 5. Marathon, in Dakar speak, means that teams were not allowed outside assistance at the overnight camp in Al Ula. The biggest issue on the previous stage was punctures. Many crews suffered multiple punctures and could not receive spare tyres from their teams. This meant that 2025 Dakar Stage 5 was a strategic affair, balancing speed with caution. The 428-km timed section ended in Ha’il and heralds the start of a rest day, which the competitiors are, no doubt, looking forward to.

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Opening the Way

Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing opened the stage by virtue of his stage win on stage four. He said at the end of yesterday’s stage. “We’ve narrowed the gap at the top of the standings, but there are still eight days of racing left. Tomorrow we’ll be opening the road, so it’ll be different, but it will be in the sand, and I think it will be easier to follow the tracks”. One driver looking to ‘follow the tracks’ is Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider), who lost 33 minutes on stage four.

Tyre Troubles

The fear relating to a lack of tyres was a stark reality for 2009 winner, Giniel de Villiers. The Capetonian had one puncture yesterday and two today, which left him stranded in the desert for a while. De Villiers was despondent (as you can see below). His teammate Guy Botterill came to his rescue, handing the more senior man a wheel of his race machine. Botterill was lying third at the time, so gave up a good stage result to help De Villiers proceed, who would come home in 24th.

Not Slowing

Leader of the general standings after stage four, Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) enjoyed a nice cushion over his rivals. But that didn’t slow the South African driver at all. After 173 km he added 3 min 10 sec to his lead over Al Rajhi. But there was another man on the move as well. At the same check point it was Al-Attiyah who was leading the stage with the quickest time. Guerlain Chicherit (X-Raid Mini) was second quickest early in the day, but then his challenge fell away. The leading Ford driver Mattias Ekstrom was having a solid day, keeping pace with the frontrunners’ pace throughout the stage.

Click here to read about Giniel de Villiers most memorable motoring moment.

At the Flag

Al-Attiyah kept up his searing pace. After 226 km he extended his lead to more than 5 min over Lategan and almost 8 min 30 sec over Rajhi. After 260 km, the Qatari gained an extra minute over and a lead of almost 9 min over Al Rajhi. He kept his promise to attack and was consistently the fastest man through the check points. The Qatari driver beat second place Seth Quintero by almost 10 minutes to win his 49th special on the Dakar. It is also the first stage success for Dacia on the Dakar. Mattias Ekstrom was ranked third ahead of Lategan in fourth and Al Rajhi in fifth.

Lategan goes into the rest day with over ten minutes in hand over Al Rajhi. The Saudi driver lost time today to the overall leader. Ekstrom (Ford Raptor) looked as though he’d be taking second spot on the standings. He did gain on the leaders, but his early pace was not enough to usurp Al Rajhi. He is 20 min off the lead with plenty of racing still to come.

Said Lategan after the stage: “We had to open the special for the second half when we overtook Yazeed. We did a good job. It was a high pace, which means it was easy to make mistakes and lose time. I’m happy with the whole week, even if starting first the day after tomorrow wasn’t part of the plan.” You can hear more from the race leader in the video at the bottom of this post. Al-Attiyah shoots back up the leaderboard into fourth by virtue of a ‘maximum attack’ approach today.

Updated to add

After inspection, it was deemed that Nasser Al-Attiyah arrived at the bivouac missing a spare wheel and was subsequently handed a 10-minute penalty as a result. This handed the stage 5 honours to Seth Quintero. This makes the American the first driver in the ultimate car category to pick up multiple stages wins on the 2025 Dakar Rally.

Standings after 2025 Dakar Stage 5

    1. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 28 hr 10 min 11 sec
    2. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) +10 min 17 sec
    3. Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +20 min 54 sec
    4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) +35 min 00 sec
    5. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +41 min 55 min
    6. Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) +42 min 44 sec
    7. Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing) +45 min 59 min
    8. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) +1 hr 03 min 17 sec
    9. Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +01 hr +30 min 10 sec
    10. Guerlain Chicherit (X-Raid Mini) +01 hr +38 min 45 sec

Times were correct at the time of publication, full stage results can be found here.