As a result of finishing Stage 4 first and second, former Dakar winner Ricky Brabec and Stage winner Nacho Cornejo were “rewarded” by leading out on Stage 5 of the 2024 Dakar Rally. Adding injury to the insult, Brabec almost took a trip over the bars on one of the day’s massive dunes. However the end result was another Honda sweep for Pablo Quintanilla and Adrien Van Beveran.
“It definitely wasn’t that easy today,” recounts Brabec. “We woke up at 3.30am and we had a big stretch of highway to ride before we got to play in the sand, so it was pretty tiring just doing that. Cornejo and Brabec broke trail for the 118km of sand dunes through Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter as riders made their way towards Shubaytah.
Setting off early from the Al-Hofuf bivouac, riders were also faced with an energy sapping 527 km road section Although they both clinched some of the time bonuses, it wasn’t enough — Cornejo’s 11th place finish cost him the lead of the overall standings as he now trails Hero Motosports Team Rally’s Ross Branch by over a minute. Despite nearly going over his handlebars heading down a dune, Brabec did cut into Branch’s lead a little and remains in a podium position after P-7 in the Dune Stage.
“We had a short special which felt like a kind of prologue for the Chrono Stage,” added Brabec. “I started second today which wasn’t ideal as we’d started upfront yesterday too so typically I knew we would lose time. But overall it was good, I caught Nacho around the 50 km mark and then from there to the finish we both made a big push going as fast as we could.”
DAKAR RALLY PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 5
Pos. Rider Nation Team Time/Gap
1 BRANCH, Ross BWA Hero Motorsports Team Rally 19H 05' 03"
2 CORNEJO, José Ignacio "Nacho" CHI Monster Energy Honda Team +1.14
3 BRABEC, Ricky USA Monster Energy Honda Team +3.47
4 VAN BEVEREN, Adrien FRA Monster Energy Honda Team +18.10
5 BENAVIDES, Kevin ARG Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team +21.17
6 QUINTANILLA, Pablo CHI Monster Energy Honda Team +26.47
7 BENAVIDES, Luciano ARG Husqvarna Factory Racing +30.36
8 PRICE, Toby AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team +31.36
9 SANDERS, Daniel AUS Gas Gas Factory Team +37.44
10 MICHEK, Martin CZE Orion Moto Racing Group +39.52
12 HOWES, Skyler USA Monster Energy Honda Team +48.37
