Thursday’s fifth stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally saw American Seth Quintero become the first driver in the Ultimate car category to achieve multiple stage wins as the timesheets were finalised in Hail.
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It was actually five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah who finished the 428 km stage from Alula to Hail in Saudi Arabia first, but after an inspection by the FIA stewards it was found that his Dacia Sandrider was missing a spare tyre. The subsequent 10-minute time penalty handed the stage win to Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Quintero by just one second. The Dacia was undoubtedly the fastest car on the stage today, with Al-Attiyah clawing back vital time overall, though that was all nullified by his penalty.
“The first day of the marathon stage wasn’t good for us with three punctures. On those rocks, it’s a lottery and we didn’t get lucky. The first week was pretty good for us, with a victory at the start and two second places, but on the other hand, we also lost 40 minutes on the 48 Chrono stage and with the punctures yesterday. All in all, it’s not too bad. Now, for us it will be upwards and onwards,” Quintero said.
Ford-M-Sport’s Mattias Ekström was just eight seconds off Quintero’s winning time of 4 hours 32 minutes and 53 seconds, with South African Henk Lategan managing his overall lead by placing fourth on Thursday’s stage. Stage four winner Yazeed Al Rajhi from Team Overdrive was fifth fastest.
“We had to open the special for the second half when we overtook Yazeed. We did a good job. It was a high pace, which means it was easy to make mistakes and lose time. I’m happy with the whole week, even if starting first the day after tomorrow wasn’t part of the plan,” Lategan said.
On Friday the competitors will enjoy a well-deserved rest day as the action is set to recommence on Saturday with a mammoth 605 km of special stage and 829 km total to be covered from Hail to Al Duwadimi. The stages from here on out will be consistently longer than those the field experienced during the first week.
Overall rankings
- Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 28h 10m 11s
- Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) 28h 20m 28s
- Mattias Ekström (Ford M-Sport) 28h 31m 05s
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders) 28h 45m 11s
- Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 28h 52m 06s
- Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) 28h 52m 55s
- Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Factory Team) 28h 56m 10s
- Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) 29h 13m 28s
- Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 29h 40m 21s
- Guerlain Chicherit (X-Raid Mini JCW Team) 29h 48m 56s
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