Dakar 2024 – Stage 5: Victory for Nasser Al-Attiyah before the “48 Hours Chrono”
Best time of the day, Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel will lead the way for the big new feature of this Dakar, a stage contested over two days.
There was strategy on the track of the Dakar today. In this 645-kilometer stage (with 118 kilometers as the special section), the main contenders for the overall victory had to balance between going for the best time or pacing themselves to avoid opening the road tomorrow, for the first part of the stage called “48 Hours Chrono”.
This new addition to the 2024 edition will see competitors set off for a loop of 781 kilometers (572 of which are special stages) around Shubaytah, spread over Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow, at the end of the first day, the competitors will be informed of the end of the special stage and will have to stop their efforts, only to resume the next day at sunrise after a night under the stars. They will be provided with a tent, a sleeping bag, and a ration of food and will not be able to receive outside assistance or communicate with their teams.
Additional difficulty for cars, their route will be different from that of motorcycles, which usually start before them and therefore leave traces, facilitating navigation. Hence the challenge of this 5th stage since the winner will have to open the road for their pursuers. For example, Stéphane Peterhansel (+9’16”) and Sébastien Loeb (+21’13”) intentionally slowed down their pace to finish far behind and have an easier route to read in the Empty Quarter tomorrow. The Alsace driver even received a 15-minute penalty for missing a « way-point » (mandatory checkpoint).
The one who didn’t fall for this strategic game is Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatari and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel won this 5th stage, their first victory with Prodrive. They are ahead of a fleet of Overdrive Racing crews, as four Toyota Hilux prepared by the Belgian team are following in the standings, including the one from the overall leader, car number 201, driven by Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk.
This victory allows the double title holders to secure a place in the overall standings by moving up to second, nine minutes behind the leader, and with a two-minute-thirty-second advantage over Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz’s Audi. This ranking is likely to change significantly after the 6th stage, as the times will only be known at the end of the 48 Hours Chrono event on Friday evening.
Stage 5 Ranking
| Concurrents | Team | Times / Gaps | |
| 1 | Al-Attiyah / Baumel | Nasser Racing | 01:37:25 |
| 2 | Chicherit / Winocq | Overdrive Racing | +00:01:51 |
| 3 | Yacopini / Oliveras Carreras | Overdrive Racing | +00:01:58 |
| 4 | Al Rajhi / Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | +00:02:00 |
| 5 | De Mevius / Panseri | Overdrive Racing | +00:03:08 |
Overall ranking
| Concurrents | Team | Times / Gaps | |
| 1 | Al Rajhi / Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | 17:24:04 |
| 2 | Al-Attiyah / Baumel | Nasser Racing | +00:09:03 |
| 3 | Sainz / Cruz | Team Audi Sport | +00:11:31 |
| 4 | Ekström / Bergkvist | Team Audi Sport | +00:22:58 |
| 5 | Serradori / Minaudier | Century Racing Factory Team | +00:31:00 |
