Francisco López Contardo and Xavier de Soultrait were the winners of the fifth stage of the Dakar 2024 in Challenger and SSV, respectively. The stage on Wednesday had only 118km of timed distance.
In Challenger, Contardo (Can-Am Factory Team) adopted a frantic pace: he surpassed teammate Austin Jones by 2m04s and set a time that allowed him to be sixth in the overall classification of all automotive categories. Eryk Goczal (Energylandia Rally Team/Taurus) suffered his second defeat of this edition, finishing third at 2m06s.
Nevertheless, the Polish driver remains very calm in the lead and even extended his advantage over teammate Marek Goczal to 34m50s. Mitchell Guthrie (Taurus Factory Team) maintains third position, now 39m46s off the top. Despite the clear victory on the day, Contardo is fourth and still nearly half an hour away from the podium positions.
In the SSV category, de Soultrait claimed another victory. In a Polaris from the Sébastien Loeb Racing Bardahl Team, he was stronger than Yasir Seaidan (MMP/BRP) by just 1m14s, followed by Jérôme de Sadeleer (MMP/BRP) at 3m54s. Gerard Farres Guell (South Racing Can-Am) had problems after kilometer 84 and did not finish, when he had entered the stage as the overall leader.
With the setbacks of the Spanish driver, there are changes at the top of the standings, which are now occupied by de Sadeleer with a 5m30s lead over rookie Rodrigo Varela (Team BRR/BRP). The category is full of excitement: Cristiano Batista (South Racing Can-Am), Seaidan, and Sara Price (South Racing Can-Am) complete a top five separated by only 12m55s.
Top ten of Stage 5 (Challenger):
Top ten overall (Challenger):
Top ten of Stage 5 (SSV):
Top ten overall (SSV):