2025 Dakar Rally Stage 5: Seth Quintero leads the cars while Luciano Benavides dominates amongst the bikes

The fifth stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally took participants through the provinces of Al’Ula and Ha’il over a distance of 428 km, and it was a tricky stage for the riders, drivers and crew, thanks to the varied stage with elements featuring quick sandy tracks, rocky passages and formation. Navigation was tricky on the last part of the special, but that didn’t stop Luciano Benavides from grabbing the top spot in the bikes category, while Seth Quintero bagged the first position in the cars category by the end of Stage 5. Here’s a closer look at the standings in each category.

2025 Dakar Rally bikes

Luciano Benavides from the Red Bull KTM Factory team came in first position by the end of Stage 5, while Adrien Van Beveren was deprived of victory on the special by a penalty for speeding. However, he did manage to climb to 4th place in the overall standings. Nacho Cornejo from Hero MotoSports completed on the podium, while Daniel Sanders continues to be at the summit of the leaderboard in the bikes category.

2025 Dakar Rally cars

The stage victory went to Seth Quintero from Toyota Gazoo Racing, while Nasser Al Attiyah came close, just one second behind Quintero. After a tough day yesterday, Nasser Al Attiyah showed his true colours to regain ten minutes on all his rivals currently on the provisional podium. However, that is exactly the same time as the penalty he was given for reaching the bivouac with a missing spare wheel, hence he could not win the stage. Mattis Ekstrom came in third place in the cars category, just 8 seconds behind Quintero who led the stage. When it comes to the overall standings, Henk Lategan continues to lead in the cars category.

2025 Dakar Rally trucks

The trucks category of the 2025 Dakar was dominated by Martin Macik from MM Technology, being the fastest truck for the fourth consecutive stage. His closest pursuer, Mitchell van den Brink, trails in the overall standings by almost two hours, while Ales Loprais completed the podium in third position, more than 2 hours behind Macik’s pace.

Indians at the 2025 Dakar Rally

Ashish Raorane has withdrawn from the 2025 Dakar Rally owing to injuries and severe exhaustion caused by the crashes he sustained in Stage 3 of the most gruelling rally in the world. Jatin Jain, now the sole Indian rider at the event, finished in 113th position overall after Stage 5, while Sanjay Takale finished in 27th position overall. Takale is the first Indian to participate in the four-wheeler category at the Dakar, in the Classic category.

Tomorrow the participants will receive some much-needed rest as the rally approaches its halfway point for a break day. However, Stage 6 promises to be even more gruelling and rough, being one of the longest stages on the calendar with harsh terrain to amp up the difficulty level.

Stay tuned to our Instagram and this space for more updates on the 2025 Dakar Rally.