Summarize

Dakar Day 5 live courtesy TreasuryOne

19h25 - bikes: David Thomas is home in 48th overall

19h25 - cars: Sebastien Loeb has retired from the Dakar due to health concerns around his navigator (and brother in law) Danie Elena.

19h00 - Day's Wrap

MR. DAKAR CRUISES ON

Peterhansel consolidates the lead

Peugeot’s French Dakar superstar Stefan Peterhansel maintained the overall lead of Dakar 2018 for the third day on the trot by winning the fifth stage on Wednesday, but all was not well with his Peugeot teammates. Sebastien Loeb lost two and three-quarter hours stuck in the sand and Carlos Sainz lost over 18 minutes on his winning teammate, but the Spaniard still gained a place to move into second overall, 31 minutes off Peterhansel, in spite of his tardy stage today. 

The Toyotas benefited today, with Dutch driver Bernhard ten Brinke ending up second on the stage, 4 minutes 32 behind Peterhansel and ahead of South African star Giniel de Villiers, Sainz and Al Attiyah. The Gazoo Toyota Hiluxes now sit third, fourth and fifth overall, with ten Brinke ahead of Al Attiyah and de Villiers and the trio of SA-built bakkies now split by just 23 minutes, making for an interesting race between them going forward. 

Orlando Terranova enjoyed a positive day to slot his Mini into sixth ahead of Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, who thrived in the tough early going — the same sandy desert conditions that caught out today’s big loser, Sebastien Loeb. Yesterday’s winner was among a dozen cars to get stuck in the sand shortly after the start, but he took considerably longer than the rest to escape.

Of other South African interest, TreasuryOne Volkswagen Amarok privateers Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte were still in the stage but enjoying a positive run in 32nd midway through the stage, while navigator Rob Howie was provisionally 17th after guiding Argentine Alvares home.

On two wheels it was Spain’s Joan Barreda Bort who delivered a crushing performance to dominate the day’s bike stage to take his Honda to a 10 minute 26 second victory over KTM rider, Austrian Matthias Walkner. Frenchman Kevin Benavides was third on another Honda a further two minutes adrift with KTM rider Alex Meo, the Yamahas of Adrien van Beveren and Marquis Xavier de Soultrait and 2017 winner Toby Price’' KTM next up 

Barreda’s performance has catapulted him back into the sharp end of the overall top ten - the Honda rider now sits fourth, just 7 minutes off leader van Beveren, with Benavides second from Walkner and de Soultrait a close fifth.

South African David Thomas was approaching the finish as we wrote after passing the final control 50th, where Donovan van de Langeberg was 58th and Willem du Toit 80th.

There was drama in the quad stage when 2017 winner Sergey Kariakin crashed out of second, leaving Ignacio Casale untroubled in the overall lead. Casale consolidated his now significant overall lead by coming home second behind today behind Argentine Verza.

The Dakar leaves Peru and the desert on Thursday and heads into the mountains with a break along the way to cross the border to Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca en route to La Paz, where Dakar takes its traditional rest day on Friday.

18h20 - cars: Peterhansel maintains the overall lead for the third day on the trot, with Sainz gaining a pace to second in spite of hios tardy stage today. The Toyotas now sit third, fourth and fifth, with ten Brinke provisionllay ahead of Al Attiyah and de Viliers 

18h15 - cars: Giniel de Villiers brings it home third for the day behind stage winner Peterhansel's Peugeot and teammate ten Brinke and ahead of Sainz and Al Attiyah, who fought back to fifth after his earlier issues...

17h45 - cars: Stephane Peterhansel has brought his Peugeot home to a likely stage win, provisionally 4 minutes 52 cear of Toyota's Bernhard Ten Brinke and Carlos Sainz, who lost over 18 minutes today. The results will come slowy today thanks to a pretty wide spread of stage times...

17h40 - bikes: Barreda's performance has catapulted him back into the sharp end of the overall top ten - the Honda rider now sits fourth, just 7 minutes off leader van Beveren, with Benavides second from Wakner and de Soutrait a cose fifth.

17h35 - bikes: Spain's Joan Barreda Bort delivered a crushing performance to dominate the day's bike stage to take his Honda to a 10 minute 26 second victory over KTM rider, Austrian Matthia Walkner. Frenchman Kevin Benavides was third on another Honda a further two minutes adrift with KTM rider Alex Meo, the Yamahas of Adrien van Beveren and Marquis Xavier de Soultrait and 2017 winner Toby Price'' KTM next up 

17h05 - bikes: The first motorcycles reach the finish line with Walkner quickest from van Beveren and Soutrait. Now we wait for the flying Barreda...

17h00 - cars: While his teammates struggle, Stephane Peterhansel is keeping control up front, now over a minute clear of Al Rajhi's Mini, with ten Brinke and de Villiers' Toyotas next up at the end of segment 4...

16h55 - cars: Is Peugeot's mighty machine crumbing? Sebastian Loeb has finally emerged from CP1 almost three hours late, while Carlos Sainz loses time hand over fist....

16h40 - cars: Toyota drivers Nasser Al-Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers have slammed Dakar's regulation prohibiting their 4x4 cars from using an on-board tyre inflation/deflation system. Both Hilux drivers struggled through the soft sand on Tuesday's fourth stage, with a combination of punctures and stoppages after becoming bogged down costing them huge time. Regulations ban on-board tyre inflation/deflation systems for four-wheel-drive cars such as the Toyotas, while the Peugeot buggies are free to use an on-board pressure system. "It was very, very difficult from the beginning because we needed to run a little bit lower pressures, and when you come into the road section with low pressure you will get punctures very easily,"  Al-Attiyah pointed out. "We had two flat tyres. We tried to keep the pressure very high in the tyre, but it wasn't really working in the sand dunes. It was very, very difficult; we got stuck two times and lost a lot of time. "For the buggy the pressure system is the biggest advantage - as you saw Tuesday, four buggies are at the front. "For us we can't run low pressure, because you get punctures more easily the Hilux is really good, but the regulation is not fair." De Villiers concurred: "We got two punctures because obviously we were running the pressures a little bit lower, because we can't inflate and deflate from inside the car like the Peugeot can, so we had to run low pressure to cross the dunes, because it was not possible. "The car was fine, but it's a pity we can't have on-board inflation and deflation, because there were so many rocks at the beginning."

16h30 - cars: Nasser Al Attiyah appears to have lost half an hour in the liaison section, Not sure if that will affect his position or incur a penalty. Also seems Sainz lost 5 minutes on Peterhansel in the racing segment after the liaison 

16h20 - bikes: South African riders David Thomas was 52nd and Donovan van de Langeberg 62nd on clearing bike segment 3

16h15: - bikes: There has been a bit of a shake-up behind the flying Joan Barreda on two wheels as the bikers went into their mid-stage liaison section after sector 4 - KTM's Matthias Walkner now leads the chase albeit 9 minutes off the pace, but he has Meo, Benavides, Soultrait and Price - among others - breathing down his neck.  Pablo Quintanilla has however lost over 25 minutes following a fall on the beach this morning. 

16h00 - cars: The TreasuryOne lads have cleared this morning's dreaded first section in style - Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte reached the mid-stage liaison in 32nd position. Several of the leading cars have now cleared the liaison and are racing again.

15h30 - cars: Mikko Hirvonen lost another hour and 14 minutes as Mini's Dakar nightmare rolls on despite A Rajhi leading the way this morning. oeb is still MIA, as is Renault's Carlos Souza...

15h30 - trucks: Now there's drama in the truck category as overall leader Eduard Nikolayev laid his Kamaz is on its side, but the Russian somehow righted his ship and escaped with a minimal loss of time...

15h00 - cars: Overnight leader Sebastien Loeb is yet to emerge from the first segment - he is losing significant time - 50 minutes and counting...

14h55 - bikes: The bikes continue in more or less the same order as before - Barreda making hay while the sun shines and over 6 minutes ahead of Farres-Guell with Soultrait now up to third, although KTM man Matthias Walkner is on the move, but teammate Toby Price seems to be struggling today...

14h50: quads: Frontrunner Sergey Karyakin is out of the Dakar - the 2017 winner and quickest quad yesterday, the Russian fell at 44km and broke his arm. leaving Ignacio Casale out front on his own...

14:45 - cars: Yaseed A Arajhi - another man revelling in his natural conditions - is now the quickest man across this morning's soft sand, taking 24 seconds out of Peterhansel, who was only 13 seconds cear of the fastest of the Toyotas in the hands Bernhard ten Brinke, A Qassimi, Giniel de Villiers in fifth and Nasser Al Attiyah sixth.

14h30 - cars: Bernhard Ten Brinke's Toyota was only 12 seconds off Peterhansel coming out of the first segment. Peterhansel meanwhile summed up the going early on today: "We didn't have any problems, but it is extremely tricky - these dunes are the most difficult since the start. "Seb and Carlos simply got stuck in the sand, but helping them was out of the question because we couldn't get close. "If you stop, you're stuck for good!'

14:20 - cars: Sheik A Qassimi is clearly enjoying his favourte conditions - he emerges second quickest in the cars just 2 minutes behind leader Peterhansel. Cyril Despres is still in the race despite losing several hours when he ripped a wheel off his Peugeot yesterday...

14:15 - cars: Stephane Peterhansel was the first car through the end of sector 1 with Carlos Sainz following, albeit losing 9 minutes while struggling in the sand. Sébastien Loeb was reported to stuck in the sand for the second time today and by no means alone, with Cyril Despres, Jakub Przygonski, Carlos Sousa, Giniel De Villiers, Boris Garafulic and Miguel Yacopini all stuck just a few metres away!

14:10 - all: While the survivors head into their fifth day of fighting in the sand, Dakar had updated its retirement list to now include KTM frontrunner Sam Sunderland, Fabricio Fuentes, Walter Nosiglia, Cristóbal Guldman and Jesús Puras from the motorcycle ranks. Xavier Foj, Ebert Dollevoet, Jorge Wagenfuhr, Alicia Reina, Andre Villas-Boas, Balázs Szalay, Pierre Tuheil, Stefano Marrini, Roberto Recalde and Diego Weber fel out of the car race Tuesday while yesterday's truck stage eliminated Jordi Juvanteny, Ed Wigman, Antonio Cabini, Paolo Calabria, Nicola Montecchio and Robert Randysek, while quad rider Sebastien Souday is aso out.

14h05 - cars: There has been drama from the very start this morning with Sebastian Loeb, Carlos Sainz and Mikko Hirvonen al getting stuck or stopping even before Checkpoint 1... 

14h00 - bikes: The two wheelers are well into the first stage with Joan Barreda Bort once again making the eary running after a troubled Tuesday, the Honda rider 1.08 seconds quicker than Spanish compatriot gerard Farres-Guell's KTM and Kevin Benavides on another Honda.

08h50 - all: All eight South Africans racing the Dakar this year are still in the hunt. On two wheels, David Thomas ended Tuesday's dramatic stage to finish a great 39th, while Willem du Toit is running 73rd, Donovan van de Langeberg 78th and SA's tail-end heroes, Lesotho-based Wessel Bosman 114th and Gerry van der Byl 117th and last after seven and a half hours in the saddle! On the car side, Giniel de Villiers is now 8th overall in spite of his testy Tuesday, while navigator Rob Howie saw his driver, Argentine Alvares into 7th yesterday to elevate their Hilux to 20th overall following their earlier barrel roll and the TreasuryOne lads, Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte are sitting 47th of the cars in the TreasuryOne Amarok.

08h40 - cars: Toyota Gazoo Racing has officially explained its terrible Tuesday. All three cars suffered tyre issues as team boss Glyn Hall pointed out: “Tuesday was a very tough day for us - setting up the cars for a mix of surfaces is always tricky, especially in terms of tyre pressures - if you run them too hard, it is easy to get stuck; go too soft and the tyres tend to come off the rims in tight corners. "Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of inflating and deflating our tyres on the fly like the buggies do, and today it cost us dearly.” Al Attiyah fell foul to multiple punctures, having to stop twice to change tyres before getting badly stuck on more than one occasion, to lose over 50 minutes. “Even so, we still feel that we are part of the fight,” Nasser explained. “This race is far from over and we’ll just keep pushing on.” Giniel de Villiers had similar challenges, losing over an hour to drop to eighth in the overall standings.“It was a similar story to Nasser’s,” de Villiers rued. “Punctures and soft dunes put paid to our attack, but we’re still in the game. And the Hilux never missed a beat, which boosts our confidence in the car.” Bernhard ten Brinke also suffered multiple punctures, but they managed to restrict their time loss to 42 minutes.

08h30: - trucks: The trucks arrived late last night SA time, but it was Kamaz driver, Russian Eduard Nikolaev who dominated a third consecutive stage when he beat Federico Villagra to the finish of the behemoth stage by 28 minutes

08h25 - all: Dakar 2018 is proving a tough nut to all - catch up with all the action so far in the archive here...

08h22 - cars: The treasuryOne team made it through the Tuesday traumas albeit late in the evening - follow their travails here...

08h20 - all: Tuesday's stage proved a ball breaker of note with leading retirements, drama and much more - read our full Day 4 report here...

08h15 - all: Wednesday’s split stage from San Juan de Marcona to Arequipa sees the bikes and quads taking a separate 508km route with a 266km special stage to the cars and trucks, which will take on a longer 666km day, starting first thing in the morning (lunchtime in SA), the last stage in Peru sees the cars racing 268km of over the mountainous sands of Tanaka. Catch the action as it happens right here on TreasuryOne’s live blog.

ENDS

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