Al-Attiyah turns his rage into victory and Sainz finishes the fifth stage of the Dakar in second place.

On Wednesday, the sheikh strongly criticized the W2RC Committee’s decision to implement Technology Equivalence (EoT), and Give Audi 8 kilowatts more power (11 hp), among them Sainz’s. In the sand, the Toyota driver won the first stage where the change was applied.

Spanish Laia Sanz (Astara) suffered accident without injury, but this ended when his car was destroyed after a special period of only 28 kilometers had passed. He had a fantastic result, finishing the fourth stage twentieth on Wednesday.

Toyota has warned from the beginning after the controversial decision of the FIA. South Africa Henk Lategan Set the best time at the first checkpoint (km.37) with (Toyota). Stephane Peterhansel (Audi) just two seconds away, Al-Attiyah (Toyota) three and Sainz nine behind Qatar.

The first leader lost position at the 90th kilometer and Peterhansel took the lead, 20 seconds ahead of the defending champion and 35 seconds behind the Spaniard. Sebastian Loeb (Prodrive) was just six seconds behind the Madrid man after enjoying the first Dakar joy with Wednesday’s victory.

Loeb passed Sainz and Al Attiyah at the 140th kilometer. but the differences were first in the handkerchief with Peterhansel: 42 seconds between the four of them.

The Audi man gave up the first place after a special 182 kilometer race. Loeb was determined to get his second win in a row, but everything was still tight. Top three in seven seconds and Sainz 1:04 behind Alsace.

There was a relay race in the provision of the 210. Al Attiyah later improved the nine-time world rally champion’s time by ten seconds. Peterhansel fell by 22 seconds and the man from Madrid was losing 1:34 to the Qatari.

The Toyota man cleared the distance with his two followers, even though they were still within 31-second range in the next set. Sainz gave him two seconds.

The Sheikh consolidated his hold on the penultimate crossing point, now with Loeb 35 seconds behind and Peterhansel another six seconds, the Madrid man attempted to enter the battle at 1:17.

Sainz was going even further and had less than 50 kilometers to finish. He improved Loeb and Peterhansel’s time and polished the gap again with Al-Attiyah. 12 seconds to reach 1:05.

In the final episode, Loeb’s Prodrive was paused for fifteen minutes, another setback for the Alsatian in this edition of Dakar.

Al Attiyah pushed and improved Sainz’s time at the finish line by 1:57 – 52 seconds left in the final episode – and increased Peterhansel’s time by 3:44. Loeb was almost 20 minutes behind the winner on another bad day.Saudi Yazeed Al Rajhi moved up to fourth place.

In the provisional general classification, Al-Attiyah currently dominates with 22:36 against Peterhansel, 27:01 against Al Rajhi and 34:52 against Sainz.

Beveren shines on motorcycles

As for motorcycles, the French Adrien van Beveren (Honda) beat Chile nacho cornejo On the fifth stage of the (Honda) Dakar 2023, the Castellón man was just 13 seconds behind, thanks to 41 bonuses from opening the circuit on a day he managed to complete. joan barreda (Honda) despite falling 20 kilometers from the finish line.

The second special 373km loop in Ha’il (Saudi Arabia) always took place on sand, first in a camel-grass dune environment, then in open fields, replaced by Australian Daniel Sanders (GasGas). North America leads to Skyler Howes (Husqvarna).

Even with the incentive of bonuses that are key at this stage, opening the course is complex. This time it was Barreda, who after Wednesday’s win – despite running with a broken finger – was twenty-sixth on the first checkpoint and was more than two minutes behind Cornejo, the top checkpoint at the time.

The Chilean, for a few minutes, had won the fourth stage at the expense of the Spaniard, giving him more time than he needed to stop to help Portugal. Joaquim Rodrigues (Hero), get down to this Dakar now. The one from Iquique set out to claim his victory the next day and nearly succeeded.

Australian Toby Price (KTM) took over at mile 90, where Honda lost 55 seconds. He is Chilean Paul Quintanilla (Honda) and American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) passed Cornejo at that point. Barreda was behind the leader with 2:20 and almost 3:25 behind Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco).

California’s Mason Klein, who had a fuel pump problem the previous day, came into the fight after 140 kilometers, 2:15 behind Price, in fourth place.

Price felt increasingly comfortable, with Howes in 2:43 on the second, 182nd kilometer, Klein improved a position, but behind the leader in 3:18 and Quintanilla lost another 18 seconds. Then Adrien van Beveren’s Honda appeared just nine seconds behind Chile.

Between that point and refueling point 210, specifically at 190, the quad that opened the runway had navigation problems: Price, Barreda, Quintanilla, and Howes. Van Beveren took advantage of this and replaced them in this task. It took 41 bonus seconds to prove decisive.

The Australian was alone in the 7:58 partial race, less than a minute behind Hondas of Cornejo and Van Beveren, with Klein rising to first place while scouting. In addition to French, he took advantage of the situation. Santolino, 3:33 behind Klein and fifth in front of Price. Barreda was released for over 14 minutes.

Cornejo forced down to 16 seconds At the 234th kilometer, Van Beveren was 42 seconds behind the leader by opening the track for a part of the stage and receiving a 41-second bonus. Santolino gave up after 4 minutes.

At the penultimate ‘waypoint’ (282 km.), the Chilean led the stage, 45 seconds ahead of Honda teammate Van Beveren and 49 seconds ahead of Klein. There would be a scene between the trio.

With less than 50 left, Cornejo held the first place, 15 seconds ahead of the Frenchman at 326 kilometers. It was a fight between two Hondas. Klein gave up at 2:32.

The Fall of Barreda

Things got even more complicated for Barreda. If I lose 12:29 at that point, 20 kilometers left. Four pilots helped him, including Price and Quintanilla. The man from Torreblanca managed to keep walking and finish the stage despite being 14 minutes behind the winner Van Beveren.

The Frenchman recorded the win just 13 seconds ahead of Cornejo after applying the 41 bonus. Klein finished the podium in 5:13 and Santolino in 11:16.

Overall, Australian Daniel Sanders lost the lead in his Husqvarna to Skyler Howes. Argentina’s Kevin Benavides is second, 44 seconds behind, and Barreda is 4:58 behind the leader.