HA’IL, Saudi Arabia — In an unexpected turn of events during the Dakar Rally on Thursday, five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah lost his significant stage victory due to a penalty for not having a spare wheel. This has led to American driver Seth Quintero being named the winner for the second time this week, finishing just one second ahead of Al-Attiyah.
Similarly, French motorbike racer Adrien van Beveren also saw his stage win revoked after receiving a two-minute penalty for speeding in the challenging Saudi desert terrain. As a result, Argentina’s Luciano Benavides claimed the top spot in the motorbike category, finishing 47 seconds ahead of Van Beveren.
Al-Attiyah originally completed the fifth stage from AlUla to Ha’il in vibrant form, covering the 428 km course in just over 4.5 hours with a remarkable lead of nearly 10 minutes. However, the absence of a spare wheel resulted in a 10-minute penalty that relegated him to second place and allowed Quintero to ascend to the top position. Earlier in the week, Quintero had also been elevated to first place after assisting an injured competitor.
The 22-year-old Quintero had faced difficulties recently, including three punctures during Wednesday’s driving. Although his performance has seen an improvement in the standings, he still trails behind his Toyota teammate and race leader Henk Lategan by an hour and a half. Al-Attiyah’s penalty proved especially costly as he managed to close the gap on Lategan by only 53 seconds. As the competition reaches the rest day on Friday, Al-Attiyah finds himself 35 minutes behind Lategan.
Lategan’s performance placed him fourth in the stage, which expanded his overall lead, pushing second-placed Yazeed Al Rajhi back by 10 minutes and Mattias Ekstrom by 21 minutes. Notably, none of these leading drivers have ever won the Dakar Rally, although Al Rajhi did secure a podium finish in 2022. Al Rajhi reflected on the challenges of this year’s rally, saying, “It was the hardest first week of my career on the Dakar.”
In the motorbike category, van Beveren maintained control for nearly the last 200 kilometers, anticipating a sixth career stage win. Regrettably, a second speeding penalty impacted his standing, handing Benavides the victory instead. The four-time Dakar top-10 finisher outpaced van Beveren by 47 seconds, while Chilean racer Jose Ignacio Cornejo rounded out the top three. Benavides now sits seventh overall, trailing his KTM teammate and current race leader Daniel Sanders by 24 minutes. He expressed hope that future strategic decisions could benefit him in the continuing stages of the rally.
The overall rankings remain unchanged; however, Sanders’ lead has dwindled following an eight-minute penalty for multiple speeding offenses, shrinking his advantage to seven minutes over Spain’s Tosha Schareina and 18 minutes over Botswana’s Ross Branch, with van Beveren moving from sixth to fourth place, another 30 seconds behind.
