The Toyota driver was 25th and 20 minutes off the pace on a day when he and his teammates lacked speed relative to the rest of the field.

“We had a decent day on Stage 4, and it felt like we found a rhythm,” said Price.

“We didn’t get any flat tyres either, so I was happy with that. After the overnight camp I left feeling really good.

“We started Stage 5 at what we thought was a reasonable pace, but we realised that it wasn’t so quick.

“So, I started to pick up the pace and then we made a bit of a navigation error just over halfway through.

“We were having a good run despite that until I hit a rock and got a puncture.

“After that we had a tough afternoon in the dust. But the car is in great shape and we’re ready for another day.”

Seth Quintero led Toyota’s challenge in 10th, 9m8s away from the stage winner Mitch Gutherie.

Dakar Rally leader Henk Lategan was 16th, ending the stage 12m43 behind the leading Ford.

Lategan led Nasser Al-Attiyah in the overall classification. The Dacia driver was 15th in Stage 5 and 38 seconds faster than his Toyota rival.

“We had a good push on the first day of the marathon stage,” said Lategan.

“We started in the dust and stayed there for a lot of the day, but it was still a really nice stage. We had a couple of moments looking for waypoints but nothing too serious.

“Finally, we had a day without punctures so we really got going and could push all the way to the end.

“Camping in the tent was not very comfortable and the ration packs for food weren’t great, but it was fun to spend some time with the guys around the campfire.

“Today we had the massive job of opening the stage and we were at the front pretty much all the way. That was very difficult, but Brett did a great job.

“The car is going well and is showing some true Hilux reliability to make it through a tough marathon like that when we were really pushing.

“We’ve had a good couple of days to bounce back after a tough start to the rally.”

Stage 6 represents the longest day of the rally from Ha’il to Riyadh. Drivers will cover 920 kilometres, including 331 kilometres of competitive action, before a long liaison to Saudi Arabia’s capital.

2026 Dakar Rally Cars Top 10 after Stage 5