On a short 299km special between Al Salamiya and Al-Hofuf with little in the way of sand or dunes, drivers were able to put their foot down.

Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) only led at one timing point in his Prodrive Hunter, but it was the stage finish line, where he prevailed by 1:08s over the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux entry of Al Rajhi.

In another Hunter, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Nasser Racing) led for most of the morning but finished third in the end, another 14 seconds off the pace.

Team Audi Sport’s Carlos Sainz took fourth on the day in his RS Q e-tron and continues to hold second in the general classification, but his deficit to Al Rajhi has grown by exactly four minutes to 4:29s.

Al-Attiyah’s performance saw the five-time Dakar champ climb two spots to third overall, another 6:34s off the pace, with Stage 3 winner Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and Mattias Ekstrom (Team Audi Sport) rounding out the top five in the general classification.

Loeb is sixth, 23:50s away from top spot, with fellow Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (Team Audi Sport) eighth at another 3:06s back.

Loeb said, “It was a very good day for us. We did a clean stage.

“We were a bit in the dust for sure, because we started far back and we had to overtake a lot of cars.

“At one point we missed a waypoint and had to go back for about 30 seconds, but for the rest we did a very good stage, so no problems.”

New factory Toyota driver Seth Quintero has had his hopes of a solid result in his debut Ultimate class campaign dashed due to engine problems for his Hilux.

A runner-up in the T3 class last year, Quintero’s car had to be towed back to the bivouac and he will be whacked with a 20-hour penalty.

Stage 5 runs from Al-Hofuf to Shubaytah and while the special is only 118km, out of a total of 645km, the dunes will return.

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General classification: Cars Top 10