In a surprise turn of events, Toyota Gazoo car crossing the line first at the end of Stage 5 wasn’t Attiyah’s 301, but number 304 – Giniel De Villiers on the helm. The South African had a tough campaign so far struggling at 22nd in the overall standing. But the 2009 Dakar winner took a lead well into the 250kilometres stretch of the total 456kilometre run from Riyadh to Al-Qaisumah. He finished with a time of 5:09:25 almost a minute clear of Brian Baragwanath.

With his 17th career Stage win, De Villiers has moved up to 12th in the overall standing. The Century buggy finishing second in Stage 5 was another surprise for the day. What wasn’t surprising though was Dakar Legend Stephan Peterhansel’s consistent performance as he took third with ease despite a dog fight in the desert with Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Just before the finish line, Attiyah lost crucial two minutes to the 13-time Dakar winner who has now extended his lead by more than six minutes. Meanwhile, defending champion Carlos Sainz – still fighting his 30 minutes delay two Stages ago – managed to finish 15:19 seconds behind the Stage winner, thus maintaining his third position in the overall table.

Martin Prokop, driving the sole Ford this year for Team Benzina Orlen, was impressive finishing fifth ahead of local hero Yazid Al-Rajhi. Another Dakar Legend Orlando Terranova came in seventh driving his X-Raid buggy. Where WRC Champion Sebastian Loeb was furious for an overspeeding penalty in the previous stage, BRX team was happy as Nani Roma made it to top 10. Orlen Overdrive team’s Jakub Przygonski finished 10th.

But our heart goes out to Dakar debutant Henk Lategan who showed great promise in the previous two stages. The 26-year old South Aftican’s Toyota Gazoo suffered a terrible crash just 20kilometre into the Stage and suffered a fractured collarbone bringing his first Dakar campaign to an early end.