Second victory for Nasser Al-Attiyah so far in Dakar 2023: he extends his lead at the head of the general classification, but tomorrow he will have to open the track.
The Dakar 2023 continues to be a ‘comfortable’ task for Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatari driver, reigning champion at the wheel of the Toyota Hilux, has extended his advantage at the head of the rally after winning the fifth stage. But Carlos Sainz (2nd today) endures the pull, without any notable problems, and remains in the battle for his fourth ‘Touareg’.
Al-Attiyah has once again given everything in the 373-kilometre stage that started and finished in Ha’il, and where the sand and dunes were the protagonists. The four-time champion of the toughest rally in the world had a solid and regular day: he started fourth, rolled among the top three places until the ‘waypoint’ of kilometer 210 and, from there, he led until the end.
He was closely followed by Carlos Sainz, who had started just in front of Nasser, and always remained approximately a minute behind his great rival. In the end, the man from Madrid reached the finish line just 1 minute and 57 seconds behind Toyota, which of course extends his advantage at the head of the general classification.
Stéphane Peterhansel finished in third place, 3 minutes and 44 seconds behind Al-Attiyah, and Al-Rajhi, another of the first classified overall (he is third), was fourth. Guerlain Chicherit, with the Hunter, was fifth; and Henk Lategan, another of the Toyotas, has finished sixth.
Sébastien Loeb, who was running third at the last waypoint before the finish line and seemed to have options in the fight for the stage victory, suffered a rollover and lost 20 minutes. Due to this, he finished ninth in the classification of the day.
🚗 Sebastien Loeb got going again after a crash late in the stage, but lost nearly 20 minutes, leaving him 1h53’41” down on the overall standings. 🛠#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/sAJDBVkCJy
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 5, 2023
Laia Sanz also suffered, who had a serious accident in the first kilometers of the stage, going so far as to roll over several times. Despite this, the Astara Team member and her co-driver, Maurizio Gerini, refused to throw in the towel.
The Spanish-Italian duo waited for the quick assistance of Sergio Vallejo and they repaired the car to be able to continue on the road to the camp. A pity, especially after the twentieth position that they achieved yesterday. If they finish, at least they will be able to go out again on Friday in search of another good result.
Classification Stage 5 Dakar 2022
- Al-Attiyah/Baumel (Toyota) – 4h13m23s
- Sainz/Cruz (Audi) +1:57
- Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi) +3:44
- Al-Rajhi/Von Zitzewitz (Overdrive Racing) +8:43
- Chicherit/Winocq (Hunter) +11:09
Barreda falls, but keeps going and with good results
In the Motorcycle category, the victory went to Adrien Van Beveren (Honda), who beat Nacho Cornejo (Honda) by 13 seconds and Mason Klein (KTM) by just over five minutes. Joan Barreda, who suffered a severe fall that did not prevent him from continuing the race despite his hardness, left fourteen minutes with the winner of the day.
This mishap, however, has not made him lose too much time in the overall standings, led by Skyler Howes (Husqvarna), while the man from Castellón is sixth, four minutes and 52 behind the leader.
The 2023 Dakar will continue on Friday, with a stage of 467 timed kilometers between Ha’il and Al Duwadimi, in a day that will have almost 900 kilometers of travel including the links. We’ll see if Three Kings Day brings a good gift for ours!
