Dakar 2026: Guthrie Wins Stage 5 – Ford Hat-Trick

It’s a Ford that looks a lot like a sudden wind: it comes in gusts, and when they arrive they are so impetuous that they surprise everyone.

After a complex first part of the Marathon stage, the Raptor T1+ managed by M-Sport came to the rescue, scoring a nice hat-trick which goes hand in hand with the very poker of 2 days ago, in Stage 3.

Today’s test, which took the caravan from the shelter bivouac to Ha’il, saw Mitchell Guthrie triumph after a duel with Nani Roma and it was nothing short of exciting. The American commanded the operations for many kilometres, but at the finish line Roma preceded him by just 4 seconds.

The Spaniard, however, incurred a 1’10” penalty, giving the stage victory back to Guthrie. Roma, however, was content with second place, 1’06” behind his teammate and 1’08” ahead of Martin Prokop, who gave Ford the hat-trick.

The Czech is not part of the official team, but in this edition of the Dakar he really seems to have changed gear compared to the past and is now a concrete contender for the stage victory. To certify today’s dominance of the blue oval just take the ranking and see that in the Top 6 there are 5 Ford Raptors.

In fifth place, in fact, we find Mattias Ekstroem ahead of Carlos Sainz. The Madrilenian would have finished ahead of the Swede, but took a 1 minute penalty, thus slipping one position. Not bad, because both Ekstroem and Sainz came quite close to the top positions in the general classification of this 2026 Dakar. Sainz, however, had to deal with an engine problem on his car and was taken to the bivouac by Guthrie via a cable with which he was towed. Tomorrow the Madrilenian should be regularly competing and continue the hunt for the top places in the general classification.

Lucas Moraes separated the 5 Ford Raptors. The reigning W2RC world champion brought the first (and only) Dacia Sandrider into the Top 10 in fourth place, just over 3 and a half minutes behind Guthrie. Things went less well for his teammates, with Sébastien Loeb 11th at 10’41” from the stage-winning Ford, Cristina Gutierrez 13th at 11’24” and Nasser Al-Attiyah 15th at 12’05”.

Returning to the Top 10, Joao Ferreira was the first Toyota (Team Gazoo Racing SA) driver to the finish line, seventh less than 1 minute behind Sainz. Very good Simon Vitse (MD Rallye Sport), eighth ahead of the official Toyota GR Hilux T1+ of Guy Botterill and Seth Quintero. Henk Lategan, great winner of the first part of the Marathon Stage which took place yesterday, stopped in 16th place, almost 13 minutes behind Guthrie.

Today the South African from Toyota paid for his starting position, like Al-Attiyah who preceded him by half a minute and Matheu Serradori – at the wheel of the first Century CR7 – 17th ahead of Saood Variawa / Toyota Gazoo Racing SA).

Of note is the definitive retirement of Yazeed Al Rajhi. The winner of the 2025 edition of the Dakar preferred to preserve his body after the accident in which he was involved a few months ago, aware that he no longer had the opportunity to win due to a complex start to the race and the breakdown that forced him to stop yesterday at kilometer 234.

As regards the general classification dedicated to Cars, Henk Lategan (Toyota) leads with 3’17” on Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) and 4 official Ford Raptor T1+, those of Mattias Ekstroem (+5’38”), Nani Roma (+6’59”), Carlos Sainz (+8’33) and Mitchell Guthrie (+16’23). The American himself, sixth overall, is the first to have a gap in double figures, but still very low. This shows how tight this Dakar is, at least until now.

Behind the Fords we find two other Dacia Sandriders, those of Lucas Moraes and Sébastien Loeb. The Brazilian and the Alsatian are separated by less than 1 minute and see the possibility of attacking Guthrie. Furthermore, they are still in the game for the podium and the final success, as are the stoic Matthieu Serradori, ninth with the Century and Martin Prokop, who completes the Top 10 with the Ford Raptor T1+ of the Orlen Jipocar ​​team.

Stock: another Defender trio with Baciuska in front

Defender continues its march against the Toyotas and scores another hat-trick in Stage 5, the second part of the Marathon.

This time it was Rokas Baciuska who achieved the stage success. The Lithuanian driver engaged in a nice duel with teammate Stéphane Peterhansel, beating him by just over half a minute.

The Defender trio was completed by Sara Price, today not as competitive as her teammates. The American, third, had a gap of 22 and a half minutes from Baciuska, preceding the first Toyota, that of Frenchman Ronald Basso, by 7 minutes.

As for Stock’s general classification, Baciuska returned to widen his lead over Peterhansel, bringing it to 44’32. Third place for Ronald Basso, but already at 1 hour and 12 minutes. Sara Price is trying to make a comeback on the Frenchman, but the gap between the two is 20 minutes.

Dakar 2026 – General classification after Stage 5

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– The Motorsport.com team