Nasser Al-Attiyah’s winning streak came to an end in the fifth stage of Dakar, with his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Giniel de Villiers securing his first stage victory of 2021.
The stage had drivers travel from Riyadh to Al Qaisumah over a 205 km liaison with a 456 km special.
While they still claim the top spots in the general ranking, Mini X-Raid’s Stéphane Peterhansel and Toyota’s Al-Attiyah made mistakes with their navigation, placing them third and four respectively on the day, which enabled De Villiers to post the best time. He was followed by fellow countryman Brian Baragwanath of Century Racing with a 58-second variance.
For the moment, however, Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel are still well ahead of Mini X-Raid’s Carlos Sainz, who took advantage of Henk Lategan’s withdrawal (the South African rolled his Hilux after hitting a ditch 19 km into the stage) to climb up a place. Despite this, Sainz also suffered from slight navigational errors, which place him 48 minutes behind the top spot in the general rankings.
The day was even harsher for Bahrain Racing Xtreme’s Sébastien Loeb, who lost 50 additional minutes due to similar errors. The early success of the SRT team has also come to an end after Mathieu Serradori and Yasir Seaidan both crashed out.
Martin Prokop of Benzina Orlen, on the other hand, continues to show consistency after finishing fifth place yet again, with a five minute and six second variance. Despite this, he still sits behind Jakub Przygonski of Orlen Overdrive, who finished this stage in 10th position.
Stage six continues the rally from Al Qaisumah to Ha’il, consisting of a 170 km liaison with a 448 km special.
Stage ranking
1. De Villiers (Toyota)
2. Baragwanath (Century): +00:58
3. Peterhansel (Mini): +02:25
4. Al-Attiyah (Toyota): +04:38
5. Prokop (Ford): +05:06
6. Al Rajhi (Toyota): +09:16
7. Terranova (Mini): +09:24
8. Roma (BRX): +10:31
9. Sainz (Mini): +15:19
10. Przygonski (Toyota): +18:58
General ranking
1. Peterhansel (Mini)
2. Al-Attiyah (Toyota): +06:11
3. Sainz (Mini): +48:13
4. Przygonski (Toyota): +01:04:49
5. Prokop (Ford): +01:10:32
6. Al Qassimi (Peugeot): +01:21:21
7. Roma (BRX): +01:24:56
8. Terranova (Mini): +01:30:05
9. Baragwanath (Century): +01:38:50
10. Loeb (BRX): +01:40:07
