Despres, Sainz, Peterhansel in the Peugeot 3008 DKR Maxi of the Team Peugeot Total Al-Attiyah in the Toyota Hilux of the Toyota Gazoo Racing racing in the beach during stage 4 of the Dakar Rally.
© Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool
Rally Raid
Loeb crashes out of Dakar as Peterhansel and Van Beveren fly high
Sébastien Loeb’s hopes of Dakar Rally glory are sunk for 2018 after his Peugeot is buried in a sinkhole, injuring his co-driver Daniel Elena.
Written by Ildefonso García/Pablo Bueno
3 min readPublished on

Stage 5: San Juan de Marcona – Arequipa

Another long day greeted competitors during Stage 5 of the Dakar Rally 2018, with a 508km journey to Arequipa and a 266km Special through miles of sand dunes around Tanaka on the rally's last day in Peru.
Scroll down to get the full lowdown on what happened during Stage 5 and watch Red Bull TV’s Dakar Daily show above to catch up on the highlights.

Cars

Overall leader and defending champion, Stéphane Peterhansel, drove his Peugeot to a first stage victory of 2018. Second place went to Toyota's Bernhard ten Brinke, who finished almost five minutes behind Monsieur Dakar, while 2009 winner, South African Giniel de Villiers, finished 12 minutes behind in his Toyota. Carlos Sainz finished in fourth position and now sits in second place overall, although some 31 minutes behind Peterhansel.
Monsieur Dakar is the focus of all eyes right now© Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool
There was frustration for Sébastien Loeb, however. After a brilliant run to a stage victory yesterday, the Frenchman crashed out after driving into a sinkhole. The sweeper truck pulled his Peugeot out of the loose sand, but co-driver Daniel Elena suffered an injury in the incident, leaving the duo unable to continue. "Right now we feel like crap," said Loeb. "I'm trying to see how my co-driver's doing: as soon as I go over 30kph, he screams. He's hurting and I don't think we can go on," Loeb added, before later announcing his retirement from the 2018 Dakar Rally.

Selected standings

  • 1. Stéphane Peterhansel (Peugeot) 02:51:19
  • 2. Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota) +00:04:52
  • 3. Giniel De Villiers (Toyota) +00:12:47
  • 4. Carlos Sainz (Peugeot) +00:18:10
  • 5. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) +00:24:33
  • 9. Cyril Despres (Peugeot) +00:37:36

Motorcycles

Joan Barreda won the stage, his second of the race so far, by a huge margin. The Spaniard took the overall race lead after Stage 2, but a navigation error the following day dropped him down the overall standings. The Honda rider finished more than 10 minutes clear of his closest challenger, Austrian Matthias Walkner, today though.
Kevin Benavides rounded out the podium and there was an impressive run by Antoine Méo, but it's Yamaha's Adrian Van Beveren who continues to lead the overall standings.
Walkner is just over a minute adrift of the leader© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
There was much more to lose than to win on today's stage. In the Dakar every stage is different so it's not easy to maintain a strategy
Matthias Walkner

Selected standings

  • 1. Joan Barreda (Honda) 03:19:42
  • 2. Matthias Walkner (KTM) +00:10:26
  • 3. Kevin Benavides (Honda) +00:12:20
  • 4. Antoine Méo (KTM) +00:13:00
  • 7. Toby Price (KTM) +00:15:00
  • 14. Laia Sanz (KTM) +00:27:29

Quads

There was a new stage winner in the Quad category, as Nicolás Cavigliasso beat overall leader Ignacio Casale across the line. The Chilean was riding conservatively, though, after his main rival, Russian Sergei Kariakin, fell and broke his arm. Casale has dominated so far and must surely be the favourite for victory so long as he can get his machine across the finish-line in one piece.
Ignacio Casale (CHL) of Casale Motorsport races during stage 05 of Rally Dakar 2018 from Marcona, to Arequipa, Peru January 10, 2018.
Casale his already managing his lead in the general classification© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool

Selected standings

  1. Nicolás Cavigliasso (Yamaha) 04:12:47
  2. Ignacio Casale (Yamaha) +00:01:23
  3. Alexis Hernández (Yamaha) +00:06:35

Trucks

Another stage win for Eduard Nikolaev and the mighty Kamaz but it very nearly ended in tears after the Russian’s truck tipped on its side. Luckily the team managed to get the truck back upright and, incredibly, Nikolaev took the stage win. Second place went to Belarusian Siarhei Viazovich (Maz), ahead of the Dutch pilot Tom Van Genugten (Iveco). To top it off, Nikolaev extended his lead in the overall standings ahead of Federico Villagra (Iveco).
Eduard Nikolaev in the Kamaz of the KAMAZ Master Team waiting for help to get back the truck on his 4 wheels during stage 5 of the Dakar Rally, between San Juan de Marcona and Arequipa, Peru.
Despite the setback, Nikolaev won the stage© Eric Vargiolu / DPPI / Red Bull Content Poo

Selected standings

  1. E. Nikolaev (Kamaz) 03:37:12
  2. S. Viazovich (Maz) to 00:06:23
  3. T. Van Genugten (Iveco) to 00:12:57
Part of this story

Sébastien Loeb

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Stéphane Peterhansel

French driver Stéphane Peterhansel is a legend of the Dakar Rally, having won a record 14 titles – six on motorcycles and eight in a car.

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Carlos Sainz

Known as 'El Matador', veteran driver Carlos Sainz is a WRC winner and now four-time Dakar Rally champion, making him Spain's greatest ever off-road racer.

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Cyril Despres

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Matthias Walkner

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Toby Price

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Laia Sanz

Spanish rally-raid star Laia Sanz is used to competing at the world's biggest events and is the only female to finish inside the Top 10 of the Dakar Rally.

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Giniel De Villiers

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Nasser Al Attiyah

Nasser Al-Attiyah is the sporting hero of his native Qatar who's won the Dakar Rally on five occasions while also excelling in skeet shooting.

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