Peterhansel takes stage five

Mitsubishi were the big winners on day five of the Dakar Rally today. Their drivers Stéphane Peterhansel and Hiroshi Masuoka were first and second on the stage and hold the same spots in the overall classification

Jan 5, 2004, 4:29 PM

Today's run between Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate was the first full-length stage and so finally the rally leaderboard is starting to take some sort of shape, with significant gaps developing. The Mitsubishi pair are over four minutes apart, with Peterhansel fifteen ahead of Grégoire de Mevius in a BMW.

The symmetry continues down the overall leaderboard, with the second BMW of Luc Alphand lying fourth ahead of two Nissans. Giniel de Villiers (third on today's stage) is in a tight scrap with team-mate Colin McRae.

Today's big loser was Ari Vatanen, who lost time with a wheel problem early on. Yesterday's stage winner is now sixteenth overall, forty minutes off the lead.

Tomorrow's special is of 351km between Ouarzazate and Tan-Tan.

Peterhansel (Mitsubishi) 4h26m31s
Masuoka (Mitsubishi) +06m12s
De Mevius (BMW) +15m33s
Alphand (BMW) +15m57s
De Villiers (Nissan) +16m05s
McRae (Nissan) +16m12s