Cars

Sebastien Loeb has taken a commanding victory in Stage 5 of the Dakar Rally but Nasser Al-Attiyah is now in an even stronger position in the general classification.

The privateer Peugeot driver beat Toyota Gazoo Racing’s main man by over 10 minutes in the second marathon stage which covered 519 competitive kilometres.

Al-Attiyah (Qatari), however, is now 24:42s clear at the top of the general classification as his nearest rival, Stephane Peterhansel (Mini, French), lost significant time towards the end of the day.

Nani Roma (Mini, Spanish) remains third but drifted to more than half an hour behind Al-Attiyah.

Despite his second stage victory of the campaign, Loeb (French) is exactly 40 minutes off the overall pace.

Other classes

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Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz, Russian) bounced back with a small stage win in Trucks to move his advantage overall to 11:54s.

Nicolas Cavigliasso (Yamaha, Argentinean) beat his nearest rival Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli (Yamaha, Argentinean) by 14:27s and is now 49:30s in the clear in Quads.

The SxS stage was neutralised due to weather conditions after only two competitors made the finish. Sergei Kariakin (BRP, Russian) therefore retains his overall lead.

After a rest day, Stage 6 takes the field over 800km from Arequipa to San Juan de Marcona, including over 300km of special stage running.

General classification: Cars