Dakar 2024: Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah strong in the dunes in the car, Pablo Quintanilla wins on the motorcycle

Le Qatarien Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive) a dominé mercredi les dunes de l'Empty Quarter. DAKAR PRESS TEAM – Andrew Eaton

The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive) dominated the dunes on Wednesday by winning the 5th stage of the Empty Quarter marked by the drivers' strategy to avoid opening a crucial special. motorcycle, the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) won ahead of his teammate Adrien Van Beveren.

On this short 118 km special in the dunes, Nasser Al-Attiyah set the best time, signing the 48th stage victory of his career in the event. He is followed by Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (Toyota), 2nd at 1 min 51.

The 5th stage was especially very strategic for the cars before the "48 Hours" which awaits the competitors on Thursday and Friday. The cars will not take the same route as the motorcycles, which means that the winner of the day will not benefit from the tracks left by the two-wheelers.

Some therefore eased off before the finish line, like Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) who opened the road on Wednesday. He even intentionally missed a mandatory crossing point, receiving a 15-minute penalty, a gamble that he hopes will pay off in the future.

🏁 Stage 5️⃣ – Cars 🚗

Provisional top 3:
🥇 Nasser Al-Attiyah
🥈 Guerlain Chicherit
🥉 Juan Cruz Yacopini

Al-Attiyah refrained from the strategic games of his rivals and set the fastest time of the day ⏱

See the full results and standings here 👉https://t.co/fYY9fDnZmo… pic.twitter.com/x4ADra7CTR

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 10, 2024

"At the beginning, our first idea was to hide behind a dune and watch our friends go by!", smiled the Alsatian back at the bivouac. He finished 21 min 13 sec behind Al-Attiyah and lost time in the general classification which will allow him to start behind on Thursday and, he hopes, to optimize the rest of his race.

"Either the strategy pays off and I take them back 35 minutes in the next two days and I stick to the general, or it doesn't work and we have it in the&# 39;bones. No one has ever tried that, Loeb assures. "It'may be bullshit if there's only two of us who thought about it."

Sébastien Loeb is in 9th place in the general classification at the end of the 5th stage of the Dakar 2024. MAXPPP – Aaron Wishart

Still in the lead in the general classification, the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) arrived 4th on Wednesday and conceded two minutes to Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel (2nd at +9 min 03 overall ).

He doesn't believe for a second that Loeb's strategy will be a winner. "He made a big mistake (…) He can't take 30 minutes on this stage, the navigation is not complicated. You're losing time (Wednesday), you can't win (Thursday), there's too much of a gap, says the Saudi, confident before the rest of the stages in the Empty Quarter.

The Top 10 in the general classification (auto) after the 5th stage

1.Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) 17:24:04

2.Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT) à 9:03

3.Carlos Sainz (ESP) 11:31

4.Mattias Ekström (SWE) 22:58

5.Mathieu Serradori (FRA) 31:00

6.Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) 34:12

7.Vaidotas Zala (LTU) 37:07

8.Guillaume De Mévius (BEL) 41:51

9.Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 43:03

10.Lucas Moraes (BRA) 54:47

Pablo Quintanilla winner on motorcycle, the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren 2nd

The Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) mastered the dunes of the Empty Quarter by winning in front of his French teammate Adrien Van Beveren, 37 seconds away.

 "It's cool, I attacked hard, I caught Ross (Branch), I felt at home ;#39;comfortable, the bike works really well, it performs really well in these conditions. I love the dunes, the Frenchman rejoiced at the end of his special.

After his victory on Tuesday, Ignacio Cornejo, Honda's other Chilean, had the difficult task of opening the special. He finished at 6 min 11. Which allowed the Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero), 6th in the stage, to regain the lead in the provisional general classification, with 1 min 14 ahead of &quot ;Nacho".

🏁 Stage 5️⃣ – Bikes 🏍

Provisional top 3:
🥇 Pablo Quintanilla
🥈 Adrien Van Beveren
🥉 Toby Price

💪 1st stage win for @quintanilla102 in this #Dakar2024

Follow the other categories live 👉https://t.co/BrruP0oEtI pic.twitter.com/CSTUYAAgR5

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 10, 2024

"We knew it would be hard on the bike, for the body. I'm happy to finish in a good position. (Thursday) it's going to be interesting with all these dunes, I'm going to take it slowly, assured Branch at the bivouac.

While he was setting a good time, the Argentine world champion Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) encountered technical problems on his bike, which cut itself several times on the last 5 kilometers. He finishes his special 4 min 22 behind Quintanilla.

The Top 10 in the general classification (motorcycle) after the 5th stage

1. Ross Branch (BOT) 19:05:03

2. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHI) à 1:14

3. Ricky Brabec (USA) 3:47

4. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) 18:10

5. Kevin Benavides (ARG) 21:17

6. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) 26:47

7. Luciano Benavides (ARG) 30:36

8. Toby Price (AUS) 31:36

9. Daniel Sanders (AUS) 37:44

10. Romain Dumontier (FRA) 38:52

Thursday and Friday, the competitors will discover a new formula for the 6th stage: spread over two days, this "48 hours" is the last big chunk of the first week of Dakar-2024 before a rest day in Riyadh.