Dakar Stage 5 win for Quintero/Zenz as Lategan/Cummings march on

The opening week of Dakar 2025 has drawn to a close in the northern city of Hail, following Stage 5 of the gruelling event. For TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, the opening week brought mixed results, but with Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings (#211) topping the overall standings, the team has every reason to be pleased. Stage 5 saw the crews return from the Marathon bivouac at Alula, where they had to service their own cars before taking on a 428km timed stage, leading them back to the main bivouac at Hail. With a multitude of punctures on Stage 4, and limited resupply at the overnight stop, today's stage was a tough challenge. However, it was TGR's Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz (#204) who set the fastest time of the day. The GR Hilux EVO crew bested the 2nd-placed team by a single second, and moved into the overall Top 10 as a result. They are now 1hr 3min 10sec behind the leaders, with seven stages to go. As for the overall leaders, Lategan/Cummings faced multiple punctures over the course of the Marathon section of the rally, but brought their GR Hilux EVO home in the 4th-fastest time on Stage 5. This allowed them to retain their lead, which has grown to 10min 17sec over Yazeed Al Rahji and Timo Gottschalk (#201) in their Toyota Hilux. Saood Variawa, racing in only his second Dakar Rally, finished Stage 5 in 6th place today. Together with co-driver Francois Cazalet, the #218 driver has shown significant pace at times this week, becoming the youngest stage winner in the Ultimate Class when he won Stage 3 of the rally. However, a major setback due to a collision on Stage 2 has relegated him to 57th place in the overall ranking, with a time deficit of 8hr 22min 21sec to the lead. Brazilian driver Lucas Moraes, together with Spanish co-driver Armand Monleon, finished just 4min 24sec behind Variawa/Cazalet today, but were disappointed with their performance on Stage 5. They struggled briefly with navigation, and also suffered a puncture on a day where spare tyres were in