Home » Sixth consecutive Toyota win, Quintero edges out Al-Attiyah by 1 second

Sixth consecutive Toyota win, Quintero edges out Al-Attiyah by 1 second

A missing spare tire onboard Nasser Al-Attiyah’s Dacia cost him a 10-minute penalty. At the finish, it initially seemed he had made a significant step forward and closed the gap to his rivals, but it wasn’t enough. As a result, the fifth stage went to Seth Quintero, marking Toyota’s sixth consecutive stage victory.

The gap between Quintero and Al-Attiyah was just 1 second after 492 kilometers of racing. Mattias Ekström finished third, 8 seconds behind, while Henk Lategan followed in fourth, 54 seconds back. The top four were incredibly close. In the overall standings, Lategan remained in the lead with a margin of over 10 minutes on Yazeed Al Rajhi and nearly 21 minutes on Ekström. Al-Attiyah moved up to fourth, 35 minutes behind, while Moraes held fifth, trailing by just under 42 minutes.

The stage, leading into the rest day, was eventful. Nani Roma and Simon Vitse collided during the stage, with Roma losing 3 hours and Vitse waiting for assistance. There were numerous punctures, with Toyota drivers helping each other out. Giniel de Villiers suffered a flat but had no spares left, receiving one from Guy Botterill, who later got a tire from Urvo Mannama.

Tim Coronel continued to climb up the leaderboard. After a strong day yesterday, today was even better for him and his twin brother Tom. They recorded the 20th fastest time, their best result in this Dakar so far. Maik Willems finished 35th, Dave Klaassen 36th, and Ronald van Loon 37th, forming a tight group of Dutch drivers. Rik van den Brink took 41st. Stefan Carmans had an early, prolonged stop on the stage and still has a long way to the finish.

Challengers

It seemed like a close duel between Paul Spierings and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, but Yasir Seaidan posted the fastest time. Starting further back, Seaidan left Spierings waiting to see if he had the quickest time. In the end, Seaidan was over 8 minutes faster than the Dutchman. Al-Kuwari finished third.

Nicolas Cavigliasso maintained his lead in the overall standings, with Goncalo Guerreiro in second. Spierings moved up to third due to Chris Leaverton’s technical issues, which cost him significant time.

Puck Klaassen continued her upward trajectory with a 13th-place finish. Lex Peters finished 15th, Gert-Jan van der Valk took 24th, and Richard Aczel came in 26th. Marinus Streppel came in 35th.

SSVs

Francesco Lopez Contardo took the stage win. Sara Price started strong but couldn’t maintain the pace, ultimately losing over an hour due to a mechanical issue. Brock Heger finished second, with Xavier de Soultrait in third.

Heger retained a comfortable lead in the standings, with a margin of over 1 hour and 21 minutes on De Soultrait. Pinto remained in third.

Roger Grouwels finished 9th, while Sander Derikx became 12th.

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