Mitch Guthrie convincingly won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally 2026. The American dominated the 371-kilometer special to Ha’il from start to finish. This is an impressive comeback after yesterday’s drama, when he lost over forty minutes as the first rider on the route. With this victory, Guthrie becomes the first driver in the Ultimate class to claim a second stage win in this edition.
Ford dominates with historic podium
The battle for the stage win ended in a matter of seconds within the Ford camp. At the finish, Nani Roma was initially four seconds faster than Guthrie, but the Spaniard received a 1 minute and 10 second penalty for failing to press the button in a speed zone. This cost him his fourteenth stage win in the car category.
Guthrie moved into first place, followed by Roma and a strong Martin Prokop, who made up five minutes on the leaders in the sprint to the finish. Ford thus occupied the entire podium. The Raptors’ dominance was complete, with Denis Krotov (5th), Mattias Ekström (6th), and Carlos Sainz (7th) also in the top of the daily standings.
Lategan survives navigation ordeal
Overall leader Henk Lategan faced the toughest task of the week. As the winner of yesterday’s stage, he had to open the second half of the marathon stage. With the cars running a separate route from the bikes, there were no tracks to follow. Together with navigator Brett Cummings, Lategan managed to stay on the road for the entire special without being overtaken.
Although he lost 12:43 to Guthrie, the damage to his overall lead remained limited. Lategan is now the first driver in this Dakar to hold the lead for more than one day. Nasser Al-Attiyah tried to attack in his Dacia Sandrider, but lost time to the South African in the final part of the stage.
Overall standings remain tight
For the first time this week, the overall podium remains unchanged, though the gaps in the top five are narrowing. Due to various time penalties for Al-Attiyah (2 min), Sainz (1 min), and Ekström (20 sec), the top of the standings after five days is as follows:
- Henk Lategan (Toyota)
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) at 3:17
- Mattias Ekström (Ford) at 5:38
- Nani Roma (Ford) at 6:59
- Carlos Sainz (Ford) at 8:33
Guthrie’s victory propels him from thirteenth to sixth place overall, now 16:23 behind the leader. The Dacias of Lucas Moraes and Sébastien Loeb also remain within striking distance for tomorrow’s dune stage.
Sensation in the 2WD class
One of the standout performers of the day was Simon Vitse. The Frenchman steered his two-wheel-drive Optimus buggy to a sensational ninth place in the overall daily standings. This further strengthens his lead in the 2WD class, now with a margin of over 35 minutes ahead of teammate Christian Lavieille. Mathieu Serradori again showed his consistent form, finishing eighteenth, which earns him a remarkable fifth place in the virtual overall standings.
Coronel fastest Dutchman, Van Kasteren loses a lot of time
After several days in which Tim and Tom Coronel faced various problems and challenges, today they recorded the 37th time at 32:37 behind Guthrie. This means the brothers are continuing their advance and are back where they belong. Dave Klaassen recorded the 49th fastest time at 49:22. After yesterday’s long day, they are quickly making progress again.
Roger Grouwels is doing the same, recording the 53rd fastest time at 1:00:27. Maik Willems was a minute slower and finished 54th. Michiel Becx did not get further than 58th place, losing some time in the Century, particularly in the last part. Janus van Kasteren had a really bad day. He came to a standstill early on and lost an hour, eventually crossing the finish line with a deficit of 2:15:31.
Tomorrow, the final stage of the week awaits: a grueling 300-kilometer dune battle, where navigation will once again make the difference.
