American Skyler Howes has put in another strong performance at the Dakar Rally, fighting his way through a physically demanding stage five to claim fifth position on the day and move himself into the provisional lead of the race. Luciano Benavides brought his FR 450 Rally home in 12th place and lies 10th in the overall standings.

The riders knew stage five would be a real test of physical endurance and navigational skill. Third into the special, Skyler Howes maintained his top-three position right up until kilometre 190. Failing to find a waypoint, Skyler and the small group he was riding with were forced to retrace their tracks before carrying on.

In the second half of the special, while still riding within a group, one of Howes’ rivals crashed and required assistance. After spending some time helping the fallen rider, the group then continued onwards to the finish. Despite completing the challenging stage in a provisional fifth place, five and a half minutes down on the eventual winner, Skyler’s time was good enough to elevate him into the lead of the overall rally standings.

Although times are close at the top of the general rankings, Howes will have the advantage of a sixth-place start position for tomorrow’s long stage six. Totalling 877 kilometres and including a timed special of 467 kilometres, day six is the longest of the event and will lead competitors from Ha’il to Al Duwadimi.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price, Matthias Walkner, and Kevin Benavides have successfully completed the ultra-demanding stage five at the 2023 Dakar Rally. The three-man team all placed inside the top 10, with Price finishing provisionally in third place, Walkner in sixth, and Benavides a further three minutes back in eighth.

It was billed by the organizers as a tough one, and stage five didn’t disappoint. Totaling 645 kilometers and including a timed special of 373 kilometers, the day saw riders face a stage made up almost entirely of sandy tracks littered with camel grass, mixed with energy-sapping dunes.

Setting off fourth and soon finding himself in a group of four opening the stage, Toby Price delivered a strong performance over the first 180 kilometers that saw him lead the class. However, with his group failing to initially find a waypoint, all four lost valuable minutes while they retraced their way.

After the refueling, and while in that same group, another competitor crashed in front of Toby and went down. Unable to avoid the rider’s stricken machine, Price also crashed but was thankfully uninjured. Stopping to assist his rival resulted in several minutes lost – time that was subsequently returned to the Australian on completion of the stage. As such, Toby placed third for the day and lies second overall in the provisional standings.

This was certainly a good day for the Monster Energy Honda Team: Adrien Van Beveran was the winner of the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally 2023! But that was not all, since José Ignacio Cornejo – the Chilean known by all as Nacho – was also second in this special section. Pablo Quintanilla was 10th, but his time can be revised due to his assistance to Joan Barreda after the crash of the Spaniard. 

Van Beveren and Nacho finished the 374 kilometers of special stage circuit Ha’il-Ha’il just separated by 13 seconds, dominating clearly on a very demanding terrain composed of small dunes with camel grass. 

In the overall standings, the competition is still very close between the main contenders. Adrien Van Beveren – who has 4th as his personal best in the Dakar Rally – is in fifth position just four minutes and 22 seconds from the current leader. Pablo Quintanilla is in 7th position, with 9 minutes and 55 seconds to the leader. Finally, José Ignacio Cornejo is now ranked in 9th place and has 17 minutes and 32 seconds of delay. 

Matthias Walkner was the last of the Red Bull KTM riders to enter the stage. And while still fighting through the pain of his injured wrist, sustained earlier in the race, the Austrian rider once again showed his mettle as he pushed hard through the tough special, making the minimum of errors.

Inside the top five by the refueling point, Walkner maintained a strong pace to the finish where he ultimately posted the sixth-fastest time. Feeling a little more comfortable on the bike, despite his injury, the 2018 Dakar champion was in good spirits at the finish, and now looks ahead to the remainder of the race.

Also missing the same waypoint as the leading group, Kevin Benavides was unable to take full advantage of his seventh-place start position and lost several minutes while re-finding the correct route. Giving his all for the remainder of the stage, Benavides placed an impressive eighth, 10 minutes down on the stage winner. A result strong enough to move him up to third in the provisional overall rally standings.

Things were looking pretty good for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders at the 2023 Dakar. Unfortunately for the early rally leader, during the night ahead of stage five, he came down with a sickness bug that zapped near enough all of his energy. But, digging deep from the moment he entered the stage five special, Sanders safely reached the finish line in 21st and will now do all he can to rest, recover, then prepare for tomorrow’s stage six. Daniel now lies eighth overall with nine days of racing still remaining.

Each day at the Dakar is incredibly tough for every competitor. And they’re made even tougher when a sickness bug wipes out a racer’s energy levels right before another long day in the desert. Frustratingly, this was the story of stage five for Daniel Sanders. After getting the 2023 event off to the best start possible, Chucky came down with something nasty in the hours leading up to the fifth special which understandably affected his result. Lying eighth overall, Sanders will now get some much-needed rest ahead of tomorrow’s stage six and all being well, come out fighting for another stage win and begin climbing back up the leaderboard.

Luciano Benavides powered his FR 450 Rally through stage five to finish as 12th quickest. Falling foul of the same navigational error that caught out the front runners, Benavides spent several minutes trying to find one particular waypoint. Correcting his mistake successfully, the Argentinian racer then focused on the remainder of the stage.

Despite losing several minutes to his teammate, Luciano still lies inside the top 10 overall and is in a strong position to maximise the advantage granted by his start position on Friday’s gruelling stage six.

Skyler Howes: “Tough day today. It’s been really physical as for most of the day we were up on the pegs picking our way through the camel grass. I caught up to the lead group quite early on, but it was really difficult to see the tracks today. We made a mistake and chose the wrong way, ended up getting lost, and then had to make a few circles to find the one waypoint we’d missed. Shortly before the finish Joan (Barreda) had a big crash and got caught up with Toby (Price), and so we stopped for a few minutes to make sure they were alright before carrying on. I know I lost a little time today, but I’m happy to reach the finish safely and I’m in good shape to push hard again tomorrow.”

Toby Price: “Tough stage today – we got lost early on and spent some minutes getting back on track there. Then, later on in the second half of the stage, Barreda had a big crash and I ended up getting tangled up in that. I was ok, but we stopped for around five minutes there to make sure Joan was ok. All in all, it’s not been a bad stage, I don’t think we lost too much time. I’ll get my shoulder looked at now because I knocked it in the crash, but apart from that, I’m looking forward to the next day.”

Adrien Van Beveren: This stage win was a late anniversary present! It feels great to reach this performance, I am really happy! I did a good navigation at the beginning, then I opened around 200 kilometers. The terrain was really difficult but I could reach my goal.

José Ignacio Cornejo: This was a great stage overall for the team, I am quite happy to contribute to this good result. I think I have found my rhythm and that is also the consequence of the permanent improvements our team is working on in our Honda CRF 450 Rally

Pablo Quintanilla: The stage was more or less similar to the one we faced yesterday. I started the stage with a good pace, I was riding together with Joan Barreda and just before the finish he had a bad crash and I had to stop to assist him. The navigation was tricky and I think many of the riders had problems with it.

Matthias Walkner: “Once again it was another tough day in the desert. Today was really the day where I had to decide if I would continue the race or not – my wrist and my body have really been suffering since my crash on Monday. Despite that, it’s probably been my best day so far – I really was pushing hard for the whole stage and didn’t feel too bad physically. Looking at how much time I lost, it’s a little bit frustrating, but I know I really did give my all today.”

Kevin Benavides: “Today was a good stage and I’m happy with how I rode in the sand. Unfortunately, I made a big mistake around kilometer 190 and that cost me a lot of time. After refueling I tried to push again to make that up, but the terrain was so physically demanding, it got to the point where it was tough to hold on. I’m a little frustrated because I know I could have made up more time today, but it seems a lot of the top guys had similar issues, so my position in the overall is still good. Time to recharge my batteries now ready for tomorrow.”

Daniel Sanders: “It’s been a bit of a struggle today to say the least. When I woke up, I didn’t feel good at all. I had no energy, couldn’t really eat or drink anything, so it seems like I’ve picked up some kind of bug, I guess. So yeah, it’s a bit of a bummer after starting the rally so well. What made things even tougher was that my bike is set up to work at higher speeds and I just didn’t have the pace I needed today. So we’ll make a few changes ahead of tomorrow to dial the comfort back in and hopefully with some rest I can be back fighting up front again.”

Luciano Benavides: “It was another day alone for me. I was doing really well up to around kilometre 190 where I got lost a little and found it tough to get back on track. I think the riders ahead of me had got lost too, so there were so many tracks on the ground in all directions. I knew I was offline, so I tried to judge it right to find one waypoint, but it took a lot of circling to find it. After losing around 10 minutes there I really tried to push for the rest of the stage. Racing over the sandy tracks covered in camel grass is so demanding though, I had to ease my pace a little to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes. Overall, not a bad day, I’m still in the top 10 overall and looking forward to getting some rest now before giving my best again tomorrow.”

2023 Dakar Rally – Stage 5 Provisional Classification

1. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) 4:27:28

2. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) 4:27:41

3. Toby Price (KTM) 4:31:24

4. Mason Klein (KTM) 4:32:41

5. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 4:33:01

6. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 4:34:58

2023 Dakar – Provisional Overall Classification [After Stage 5]

1. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 23:16:37

2. Toby Price (KTM) 23:18:44

3. Kevin Benavides (KTM) 23:21:53

4. Mason Klein (KTM) 23:22:49

5. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) 23:25:31

6. Joan Barreda (Honda) 23:26:01