Howes was the fastest motorcyclist after 20 km. The American was several seconds faster than leader Kevin Benavides (KTM), Luciano Benavides and Toby Price, among others. 40 km further Luciano Benavides took the lead only to leave it to his teammate Howes after 89 km. Both Husqvarna riders dominated the ride. After 189 km Benavides took the lead again and held it until the finish. At the end of the stage, Daniel Sanders came up and took second place ahead of Skyler Howes who finished third.
In the standings Howes takes the lead again – despite a stupid fall – after Kevin Benavides finished tenth at 6:22 from his brother Luciano and 4:13 from Howes.
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With the top three within three minutes, the motorcycle race remains exciting. Howes has a 28 second bonus over Toby Price, winner of the Dakar in 2016 and 2019, as leader. Kevin Benavides, winner of the 2021 Dakar, follows third at 2:44.
Jérome Martiny (Husqvarna) finished 34th on Thursday at 30:31 from the stage winner. Martiny is 35th in the standings.
© EPA-EFE
The Mévius has bad luck and loses the lead
Guillaume de Mévius and François Cazalet (OT3) had a technical problem in the Dakar after 41 km on Thursday and are still on the road. The Belgian loses the lead in the prototypes. Austin Jones (Red Bull Off-Road) finished fifth to take the lead from De Mévius. The stage was dominated by the X-Raid Yamahas who took the entire top three.
Bad luck for Guillaume de Mévius who had to put his buggy aside after 41 km. After more than an hour and a half of tinkering, he was able to leave again. The Belgian is still on the road and will probably drop to third place in the standings behind Jones and his teammate Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road). During the eleventh stage, X-Raid Yamaha showed a strong performance. Portugal’s Ricardo Porem (Yamaha) was 20 seconds faster than Joao Ferreira (Yamaha) and 22 seconds faster than Ignacio Casale (Yamaha).
In the SSVs in the T4 class, the battle between leader Rokas Baciuska (Can Am) and first pursuer Eryk Goczal (BRP) remains particularly intense. Baciuska won the stage on Thursday and was 37 seconds faster than Eryk Goczal. Marek Goczal finished third at 2:38. For the Lithuanian it is his fourth stage victory in this Dakar. In the standings, Baciuska now has a lead of 4:17 over Eryk Goczal. Marek Goczal (BRP) is third at 14:18.
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Loeb and Lurquin win their fifth stage
Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Hunter) won the first part of the marathon stage for the cars on Thursday morning. For the duo it is the fourth consecutive day victory, the fifth in total of this Dakar. Loeb was 2:16 faster than his teammate Guerlain Chicherit (Hunter). Mattias Ekström (Audi) finished third. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) finished fifth and remains the leader.
There really is no measure to the duo Loeb and Lurquin in this Dakar. Although it must also be said that Nasser Al-Attiyah controls the game and does not have to take any risks with his big lead. The Qatari aspires to a fifth overall victory in the Dakar and leaves the stage victories for the others.
Loeb led from start to finish and tackled the difficult dunes in the Empty Quarter with ease. After five stage victories in this Dakar, Sébastien Loeb has a total of twenty-one victories in the Dakar. In the standings, the Frenchman is within 9:37 of Lucas Moraes (Toyota) who is still second. The Brazilian finished fourth at 6:12 from Loeb on Thursday.
Pierre Lachaume and François Beguin (Optimus) again performed excellently. The duo finished fourteenth and has moved up to fifteenth place in the standings.
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Second consecutive stage win for Marcelo Medeiros in quads
After recording his first day success on Wednesday, Marcelo Medeiros (Yamaha) won his second stage in the Dakar on Thursday. The Brazilian had a 6:09 lead on arrival over first pursuer Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha), who remains comfortably leader.
Medeiros dominated the first part of the marathon stage and led from start to finish. Giroud, who started fourth, was fourth fastest at the first waypoint but moved up to second place towards the end of the stage. Francisco Moreno Flores (Yamaha) finished third. In the standings, Giroud increases his lead over Flores to 1:20:23
The news item of the day in the quads is the retirement of Manuel Andujar, third in the standings (Yamaha). The Argentinian had a technical problem after 70 km that he could not solve. Andujar won the sixth and eighth stage in this Dakar. In the previous edition he had to give up after the sixth stage. In 2021 he won the Dakar.