Rally Raid

Dakar 2015: Coma on the comeback trail, Sainz out

Marc Coma gets one over Joan Barreda as Carlos Sainz is forced to retire on Stage 5 of Dakar 2015

By Jonathan Campkin on 8 January 2015

The fifth stage of the Dakar Rally 2015 set off from Copiapó, Chile, on Thursday with all the categories tackling the same programme.

Traversing the Chilean countryside, the bikes, cars, quads and trucks took on a gruelling 458km special, which ended in Antofagasta. It was a chance to take advantage of some fast tracks, but also imperative to overcome some tricky fesh-fesh areas.

Bikes: Coma fights back

Four-times Dakar winner Marc Coma has begun the task of cutting down HRC rider Joan Barreda's healthy lead at the top of the overall classification.

After two consecutive second-placed finishes on Tuesday and Wednesday, Coma looked determined to take a chunk out of his rival's time advantage with his first win of this year's edition.

In a reverse of yesterday's race, the 38-year-old Spaniard clawed back a two-minute starting deficit before taking control in the second half of the race.

It was a repeat of Wednesday's top three, as Pablo Quintanilla put in a fine performance to take third, under three minutes behind Coma.

Stage Five Classification:
1. Marc Coma (KTM), 4h 38m 16s
2. Joan Barreda (Honda) +2m 16s
3. Pablo Quintanilla (KTM), +2m 40s
4. Stefan Svitko (KTM), +3m 54s
3. Paulo Gonçalves (Honda), +04m 37s

Overall Standings:
1. Joan Barreda (Honda), 13h 10m 33s
2. Marc Coma (KTM), +10m 33s
3. Paulo Gonçalves (Honda), +22m 50s
4. Pablo Quintanilla (KTM), +31m 06s
5. Jordi Viladoms (KTM), +36m 23s

Stephane Peterhansel – Dakar 2015 Stage 5 — Al-Attiyah is still on top overall © Red Bull Content Pool

Cars: Vasilyev takes nail-biter

Vladimir Vasilyev has continued MINI’s incredible run of form with his first stage victory, after pipping Yazeed Al-Rajhi in a close fight.

The Russian charged out of the blocks to take the lead at CP1 and, despite the strong pace of the Saudi later on, managed to hold on for the win.

The USA's Robbie Gordon, who has suffered mishap after mishap up until now, finished third. This means he’s now finished in the top three of specials with three different constructors.

It may not have been another stage victory but Nasser Al-Attiyah produced another fine performance to extend his lead over nearest rival Giniel de Villiers in the overall standings.

Stage Five Classification:
1. Vladimir Vasilyev (Mini), 4h 19m 18s
2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota), +00m 20s
3. Robby Gordon (Gordini), +01m 25s
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar Rally Team) +03m 24s
5. Stéphane Peterhansel (Peugeot) +04m 04s

Provisional Standings:
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar Rally Team) 16h 53m 26s
2. Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) +10m 35s
3. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) +20m 29s
4. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini) +48m 55s
5. Eric van Loon (Mini) +53m 25s

Stéphane Peterhansel – Dakar 2015 Stage 5 — Peterhansel continues his good form! © Red Bull Content Pool

Stéphane Peterhansel was once again the star performer for Team Peugout-Total with his second consecutive top five finish. The 11-times Dakar winner now seems a force to be reckoned with in this edition ,as he becomes accustomed to life in the Peugeot 2008 DKR.

It was a tough day at the office for former World Rally champion Carlos Sainz. He rolled his vehicle in an incident 20km from the stage finish, forcing him to retire from the race.

“There was a lot of dust from a quad, we hit a rock and rolled out four or five times. Lucas (copilot) and I are OK, just some bruises," he said. “We now know the car and where we have to work, but we need Peterhansel to go on to gather more info.

It was also a tough day for car category newcomer, Cyril Despres, who was forced to stop after 64km to fix mechanical problems.

Trucks: Nikolaev takes control

2013 Dakar champion Eduard Nikolaev claimed his second consecutive victory in the truck category, turning round a two-minute deficit on team-mate Airat Mardeev to leapfrog him into first position in the overall standings.

The Kamaz driver beat his countryman by almost 10 minutes as the Belarusian Siarhei Viazovich rounded off the top three.

Stage Five Classification:
1. Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) 4h 34m 55s
2. Airat Mardeev (Kamaz) +09m 58s
3. Siarhei Viazovich (Maz) +15m 46s
4. Ales Loprais (Man) +16m 43s
5. Dmitry Sotnikov (Kamaz) +20m 45s

Provisional Standings:
1. Eduard Nikoleav (Kamaz) 15h 16m 18s
2. Airat Mardeev (Kamaz) +08m 01s
3. Ales Loprais (Man) +27m 28s
4. Andrey Karginov (Kamaz) +27m 36s
5. Dmitry Sotkinov (Kamaz) +45m 20s

Eduard Nikolaev – Dakar 2015 Stage 5 © Red Bull Content Pool

Marc Coma:

I’m going to try and keep eating into Barreda’s lead. It was important to do that today, as well as make sure nobody else joined the party!

"From the 30km mark we really took the race by the scruff of the neck, which is never easy when you’re dealing with fesh-fesh."

Nasser Al-Attiyah:

It wasn’t an easy day. Throughout the stage we had a small puncture due to the terrain. Luckily we changed the wheel in record time and didn’t lose too much time!

Stage 6: Friday, January 9

Antofagasta-Iquique

Connection: 392km, Special: 255km

Competitors will climb up the Pacific coastline with its infamous giant dunes towards Iquique, where the halfway point of the race will be marked with a podium. It's bound to be an emotional affair given the tragic earthquake which affected the area last April.