Daniel Saunders is again within the lead within the RallyGP class of the 2026 Dakar Rally after the fifth stage.
This yr’s marathon stage began with Stage 4 on Wednesday and ended with Stage 5.
On Wednesday, Saunders fell behind the Honda duo of Tosha Chalayna and Ricky Brabec within the general Dakar rankings. The Spanish and American pair had been tied in time, however Shalayna took the lead, profitable the fourth stage by six seconds.
Nonetheless, within the fifth stage, Saunders regained management. Though he was solely fourth on the stage itself, his time was sufficient to regain a 2 minute 02 second lead over Brabec.
Luciano Benavidez gained the stage with a lead of three minutes and 51 seconds over Nacho Cornejo. The Argentine was 5 minutes 50 seconds sooner than his Crimson Bull KTM teammate Saunders, however he’s now simply 5 minutes 55 seconds off the lead.
It was a ok efficiency for Benavidez to complete on the rostrum in third place, together with a 10-minute penalty for Chalayna’s failure to go away the bivouac in time for the morning exit flag. This was a really expensive penalty for the HRC rider, who was categorised twelfth on the stage and dropped 19’13” to Benavidez, together with penalty time. Shalayna, who was the chief after the fourth stage, was in fourth place after the fifth stage, with a niche of almost 12 minutes from the chief Saunders.
Cornejo’s robust efficiency on the fifth stage moved him into fifth place general, forward of Skyler Howes, who completed fifteenth on the stage and was about 22 minutes off his quickest time.
Within the Final class, Mitch Guthrie bounced again from a disappointing efficiency on Stage 4 to win the AlUla-Hail stage by simply over a minute over Nani Roma. Roma handed the stage quickest, however acquired a 1 minute 10 second penalty for rushing. Martin Prokop beat Gasly’s time by two minutes, placing him within the high three of all Fords on the stage.
Henk Lategan took the lead on Wednesday and held onto that place on Thursday regardless of ending sixteenth on the stage, almost 13 minutes behind Gasly after opening the stage for the primary time this week. His lead over Nasser Al Attiyah, who was just one place forward of him within the fifth stage, now stands at 3 minutes 17 seconds.
Matthias Ekström stays the highest Ford driver within the general standings, sitting in third place, 5 minutes and 38 seconds behind the lead. Behind him are Roma’s different three manufacturing facility Ford drivers, Carlos Sainz (8 minutes 33 seconds off the lead) and Gasly (16 minutes 23 seconds off the lead).
Behind the Ford are the Dasias of Lucas Moraes and Sebastien Loeb, 17 minutes 11 seconds and 17 minutes 55 seconds behind the leaders respectively. Mathieu Serradoli and the aforementioned Prokop rounded out the highest ten, each inside 20 minutes of the lead.
Friday’s sixth stage will run from Hail to Riyadh, overlaying a complete route of over 900km, divided right into a 589km liaison and a 331km particular.
