Dakar news: Al-Attiyah wins Stage 5 as Dakar rivals play games

Five-time Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah has his first stage win of the 2024 event, and thus his first also in a Prodrive Hunter.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel on their Prodrive Hunter T1+ of the Nasser Racing during the Stage 4 of the Dakar 2024 between Al Salamiya and Al-Hofuf, Saudi Arabia on January 9, 2024. // Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202401090382 // Usage for editorial use only // — Nasser Al-Attiyah won Dakar 2024 Stage 5. Image: Eric Vargiolu/ DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool

The Qatari prevailed on a relatively short, 118km special between Al-Hofuf and Shubaytah by 1:51s over Overdrive Racing’s Guerlain Chicherit in a Toyota Hilux.

With Carloz Sainz strategically slowing on Stage 5, Al-Attiyah has moved up to second in the general classification, 9:03s behind Yazeed Al Rajhi in another Overdrive Toyota.

Starting third on the road proved no problem for Al-Attiyah despite the stage being comprised entirely of dunes, with Car #200 leading at every waypoint.

Chicherit, though, came from 23rd in the road order to score second for the day and it was a similar story for his team-mate, Juan Cruz Yacopini, who set the third-fastest stage time from 18th on the road.

In fact, Overdrive Toyota entries rounded out the day’s top five, with Al Rajhi fourth and Stage 1 winner Guillaume De Mevius another spot further back.

Sixth went to Francisco Lopez Contardo in a Can-Am from the Challenger class for modified prototype cross-country vehicles, as opposed to the Ultimate class which comprises the outright competitors.

Further back, there were all sorts of tactics in play with an eye on the starting order for the ’48-hour stage’ which is coming up next.

Sainz and fellow Team Audi Sport driver Stephane Peterhansel simply opted to drive slowly, finishing 16th and 17th in the Ultimate class, respectively.

Sebastien Loeb took it to the extreme, though, deliberately missing a waypoint in his Prodrive Hunter in order to incur a 15-minute penalty.

He was 40th in the Ultimate class on the day and will be the 46th car to set off for Stage 6, when the four-wheelers take a different route to the bikes and hence have no tracks to follow, but is now 43:03s from the overall lead in ninth.

Sainz is down to third overall, 11:31s off the lead, from Audi team-mate Mattias Ekstrom, Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing), and Peterhansel.

Sainz said, “I think we need to wait two days more until we find out who has the best strategy for the next stage.”

The 48-hour stage takes place over two days, with no overnight assistance from crews and no updates on rivals’ positions until the conclusion.

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General classification: Cars Top 10

Pos	Num	Nat	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	201	KSA	YAZEED AL RAJHI	OVERDRIVE RACING	17H 24′ 04”
2	200	QAT	NASSER AL-ATTIYAH	NASSER RACING	17H 33′ 07”	+ 00H 09′ 03”
3	204	ESP	CARLOS SAINZ	TEAM AUDI SPORT	17H 35′ 35”	+ 00H 11′ 31”
4	207	SWE	MATTIAS EKSTRÖM	TEAM AUDI SPORT	17H 47′ 02”	+ 00H 22′ 58”
5	212	FRA	MATHIEU SERRADORI	CENTURY RACING FACTORY TEAM	17H 55′ 04”	+ 00H 31′ 00”
6	202	FRA	STÉPHANE PETERHANSEL	TEAM AUDI SPORT	17H 58′ 16”	+ 00H 34′ 12”
7	214	LTU	VAIDOTAS ZALA	X-RAID ARIJUS TEAM	18H 01′ 11”	+ 00H 37′ 07”
8	221	BEL	GUILLAUME DE MEVIUS	OVERDRIVE RACING	18H 05′ 55”	+ 00H 41′ 51”
9	203	FRA	SEBASTIEN LOEB	BAHRAIN RAID XTREME	18H 07′ 07”	+ 00H 43′ 03”
10	206	BRA	LUCAS MORAES	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	18H 18′ 51”	+ 00H 54′ 47”