Dakar, Stage 5: Lategan finally opens his counter, Loeb gains time

The fifth stage of this Dakar 2022, contested this Thursday January 6 around the Saudi capital Riyadh, was something historic. Indeed, for the first time since its creation in 1979, the rally-raid offered a completely different route between cars and motorcycles.

Previously, in Africa as well as in South America, portions of a special stage could be different, particularly for safety reasons, but never the entirety of a stage. On Friday, the routes will be reversed between two and four wheels.

On a purely sporting level, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (Toyota) finally obtained their first stage victory in the event! The South Africans had been circling the prize for several stages, but each time, the mechanics of the Japanese 4x4 decided otherwise. This time, the driver's door acted up, but the 27-year-old young man was not unduly disturbed:

🚗 Leading the car category, @henk_lategan seems to have a door problem! # Dakar2022 pic.twitter.com/pyrm22u0j1

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 6, 2022

This day allowed outsiders to put themselves forward. Winner of a stage with his Century CR6 buggy in 2020, Mathieu Serradori remembers everyone fondly by finishing on the heels of Sébastien Loeb-Fabian Lurquin (BRX). The Frenchman, discreet but consistent, is getting a little closer to the top 10 in the general classification with his new navigator Loïc Minaudier.

Also at the wheel of a buggy, Jakub Przygonski-Timo Gottschalk (Mini JCW) gained confidence behind the wheel of an ex-official Mini. The revelation of this first week, Lucio Alvarez (Toyota) also narrowly missed a first scratch time at the wheel of the Toyota Hilux T1+ but the Argentinian (co-driven by Armand Monleon) keeps his place on the virtual podium (3rd).

The struggles continue for the title holders Stéphane Peterhansel and Édouard Boulanger (Audi). The French were in first place after 159 km, but forgot the stopwatch to help their teammates Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz, still in the running for runner-up.

The Spaniards, stopped at km 195, benefited from a brand new shock absorber kindly given by "Mr. Dakar" in order to reach the finish with 1 hour of outlay. As for the record holder for victories in the rally-raid (14 successes, motorcycle and car combined), he must wait again for his assistance truck for the third time in five days.

In the general classification, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) limit the damage on a stage that they did not want to open. The Qatari and the French sailor only lost 2''55 on Loeb-Lurquin and preserve a margin of 35'10'' after five stages.

Stage classification:

General classification :