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9th
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Russian Vladimir Vasilyev took his maiden stage victory in the 2015 Dakar Rally while Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah still leads the overall standings.
MINI X-raid driver Vasilyev set the pace from the start of the stage and had a trouble-free run to give MINI its fifth win in as many stages of the event.
The Russian, who finished 10th overall in last year's Dakar, completed the 285-mile special 20 seconds ahead of Yazeed Al-Rajhi's Toyota.
American Robby Gordon was third quickest in his truck, 1m25s behind the stage winner, while rally leader Nasser Al-Attiyah finished in fourth, two places ahead of his main rival Giniel de Villiers, who saw the Qatari's lead increase to over 10 minutes after Thursday's stage.
However, former FIA World Rally champion Carlos Sainz rolled five times his Peugeot 2008 DKR and retired after five days of competition.
Overall standings (after Stage 5)
1 Nasser Al-Attiyah, MINI, 16h53m26
2 Giniel de Villiers, Toyota, +10m35
3 Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Toyota, +20m29
4 Krzysztof Holowczyc, MINI, +48m55
5 Erik van Loon, MINI, +53m25
MINI X-raid driver Vasilyev set the pace from the start of the stage and had a trouble-free run to give MINI its fifth win in as many stages of the event.
The Russian, who finished 10th overall in last year's Dakar, completed the 285-mile special 20 seconds ahead of Yazeed Al-Rajhi's Toyota.
American Robby Gordon was third quickest in his truck, 1m25s behind the stage winner, while rally leader Nasser Al-Attiyah finished in fourth, two places ahead of his main rival Giniel de Villiers, who saw the Qatari's lead increase to over 10 minutes after Thursday's stage.
However, former FIA World Rally champion Carlos Sainz rolled five times his Peugeot 2008 DKR and retired after five days of competition.
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| Carlos Sainz' Peugeot 2008 DKR. (Photo: Dakar.com) |
Overall standings (after Stage 5)
1 Nasser Al-Attiyah, MINI, 16h53m26
2 Giniel de Villiers, Toyota, +10m35
3 Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Toyota, +20m29
4 Krzysztof Holowczyc, MINI, +48m55
5 Erik van Loon, MINI, +53m25