Dakar 2022 Stage 5 Results: Danilo Petrucci & Henk Lategan Claim Victory

Bikes

The fifth stage of the 2022 Dakar Rally saw former MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci take the win after Toby Price was hit with a six minute time penalty. Price, who won the Dakar in 2019, initially took the stage win coming home in 3 hours 19 minutes and 32 seconds as riders raced around a 346-kilometre loop around the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. However, a few hours later it was announced that Price had been hit with a six minute time penalty for speeding.

Price, only took the lead at the penultimate waypoint of the stage but was in the hunt for most of the day. GasGas rider and fellow Australian rider Daniel Sanders lead for most of the stage with defending champion Kevin Benavides following closely behind in second.

Price's penalty meant that Danilo Petrucci became the first ever former MotoGP rider to win a Dakar Rally stage. Petrucci was followed by Yamaha's Ross Branch who finished the stage just two seconds behind the Italian. Branch was followed by Honda's Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo, who came in three seconds behind the Yamaha rider. Ricky Brabec finished fifth, a minute and 32 seconds behind Petrucci while Price dropped to 5th (after his time penalty) other 14 seconds further down the pecking order.

Stage 5 wasn't a great one for any of the five riders riding the Hero and TVS bikes at Dakar 2022. Hero's Joaquim Rodrigues was the highest finishing rider coming home in 20th place.

Lorenzo Santolino was the highest-ranked TVS Sherco rider finishing just 3 seconds behind Rodrigues in the timing sheets to claim 21st. Hero's Aaron Mare finished in 25th while Rui Goncalves and Harith Noah of TVS finished in the 28th and 29th spot respectively, with only 9 seconds separating the two riders on the timing charts.

After 5 stages of the 2022 edition of the Dakar Rally, England's Sam Sunderland currently leads the race. The GasGas rider is currently 2 minutes and 29 seconds ahead of KTM's Matthias Walkner. A further three and a half minutes behind sits Yamaha's Adrien Van Beveren.

Lorenzo Santolino is the current leader of the 5 riders riding Indian metal on the sands of Saudi Arabia and sits 6th overall. Hero's Aaron Mare has dropped to the 18th spot while his teammate Rodrigues now lies 21st overall. Harith Noah is in the 31st spot while Goncalves is now perched in the 36th spot.

Cars

In the cars section, South Africa's Henk Lategan was the quickest around the 346-kilometre loop of Riyadh in his Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux. Lategan finished the stage one minute and fifty-eight seconds ahead of a charging Sebastian Loeb with a time of three hours, fifty-three minutes and 28 seconds to claim his first stage win at the Dakar.

Sebastian Loeb charged across the stage to claim second in the process cutting down rival Al-Attiyah's lead by 2 minutes and 55 seconds. Claiming the final podium spot was Lucio Alvarez in his Overdrive Toyota who came in 12 seconds behind Loeb.

Audi had a bad day once again in the dunes of Saudi Arabia. Carlos Sainz had to change his suspension which saw him around 60 minutes. Sainz swapped his suspension with teammate Stephane Peterhansel who decided to wait it out and allow his Spanish compatriot a fighting chance in the overall race.

After five stages of the 2022 edition of the Dakar, Toyota Gazoo Racing's Nasser Al-Attiyah leads the rally. While his lead was cut down by nearly 3 minutes, Al-Attiyah still controls this year's rally with a lead of 35 minutes and 10 seconds. Lucio Alvarez continues to hold onto the third spot and now lies 16 minutes and 5 seconds behind Sebastian Loeb's Bahrain Raid Xtreme Hunter.

Thoughts On Dakar 2022 Stage 5

The fifth stage of Dakar saw the bikes and Dakar Classic races end early due to the great demand placed on the medical aircraft dedicated to both categories. The bikes category was won by former MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci while Henk Lategan won his first-ever Dakar stage in his Toyota Hilux.