Marko Hanželic
On the fifth day, the competitors from Al-'Ula passed into the sandy part of the desert towards the city Ha'il, where Carlos Sainz once again took advantage of his Buggy. The Spanish veteran got another stage in three days and increased the lead over Qatar Al-Attiyah and teammates Stephan Peterhansl. Even today, the competitors received notes a few minutes before the start of the stage, and he was the first to set off on the route of the speed test. peterhansel, who was forced to change his bike after 150 kilometers of driving, which caused him to lose a few minutes and Al-Attiyah took the virtual lead, but was already overtaken by him a hundred kilometers later. Sainz, who diligently gained the advantage and by the end had accumulated almost three minutes ahead of the competitor in Toyota.
Stephane peterhansel, who was more than six minutes behind, said at the end of the speed test: “I wanted to follow Carlos, but he was just too fast. I drove at the limit to stay at a tolerable distance, and at the same time I gained something towards Nasser, so we actually drove to the finish line at the same time. It reminded me of my old days in motocross. " The local drives very constantly Al-Rajhi with Toyota, which is in fourth place. Fernando Alonso he finished seventh on the fifth stage and 18th in the overall standings.
Toby Price proved after a few poor performances that it will still be necessary to count in the next few days, on the other hand he took care of the bad mood in KTM's camp Sam sunderland, who has already finished this year’s Dakar after the fall. The Briton injured his shoulder and also sued for low back pain, which led to him being taken to hospital. The racers took second and third place Husqvarna, Paul Quintanilla in Andrew Short. Together, in the lead is Ricky Brabec, who has just under ten minutes ahead of Price. Simon Marčič he finished the fifth stage in 55th place, overall in 82nd place.
Among trucks, full primacy was again taken over by Kamaz, he won the fifth stage Dmitry Sotnikov, is led by his teammate in the overall standings Andrey Karginov. Tomorrow's stage to the capital Riyadh will be 830 kilometers long, of which 478 kilometers will be evaluated. Saturday is a day off.
