Toyota’s Henk Lategan retained the overall lead in the Dakar Rally on Thursday after Mitch Guthrie Jr of the US led a fifth stage one-two-three for Ford in the Saudi Arabian desert.
South African Lategan, last year’s overall runner-up, was 17th in the 371km stage from the Al-Ula bivouac to Hail with Qatari rival Nasser Al-Attiyah 16th for Dacia to close the gap to three minutes and 17 seconds.
“It was really, really, really difficult, one of the most difficult stages I’ve had to open,” Lategan said.
“There were no bike tracks and a lot of the tracks were really, really small tracks. The rain washed a lot of them away.”
Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom remained third for Ford, five minutes and 38 seconds off the lead.
The stage win was Guthrie’s second of the event after Tuesday’s success, making him the first driver to win more than once this year, and came after he finished four seconds behind teammate Nani Roma.
The Spaniard then dropped to second after collecting a one-minute penalty for speeding.
Czech driver Martin Prokop was third on the stage in a non-factory Ford Raptor.
Ford had four cars in the top six overall, with Roma fourth ahead of Spain’s four-time winner Carlos Sainz in fifth and Guthrie sixth.
In the motorcycle category, Argentine rider Luciano Benavides won the 356km stage on a KTM and moved up to third overall, with defending champion and teammate Daniel Sanders finishing third to retake the lead from Ricky Brabec of the US.
The Australian is now two minutes and two seconds clear of Honda’s Brabec.
“It was really important to not destroy the tyres ... so I just took it easy in the middle part and just got through to the end, really,” Sanders said.
“I’m just happy to not lose too much time and manage the situation because it could have ended the race today.”
Spaniard Tosha Schareina, the overnight leader for the factory Honda team, dropped to fourth overall after collecting a 10-minute penalty for failing to depart the bivouac between marker flags. — Alan Baldwin
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