Jan 9th, 2014 Dakar Rally Stage 5 Race Info & Discussion

Join in and discuss all the action from Stage 5 of the 2014 Dakar Rally. Robby Gordon recorded a 14th place finish in stage 4, and is now 4h16m behind. The first part of the special section of stage 5 is 211km, followed by a 111km 'neutral zone', then the last section is 246km (527km total).

2014 Stage 4 Photos

STAGE 5 TRACKING

STAGE 5: CHILECITO > TUCUMAN

Connection 384km | Special Stage 527km | Total 911km

COURSE OVERVIEW

After two race days with completely separate routes, everyone will gather together to tackle the longest stage of the rally. They will need to be extremely resistant to overcome these two sections of the special stage which will primarily feature sand. All day long the competitors will make headway on off-piste sections: those who have poorly assessed the limits of their engine will constantly be on the verge of overheating and all the more so, as the region’s temperatures are generally very high. At the bivouac in Tucuman, the candidates for the podium will have been whittled down to a select few, as many of them will no longer be a part of this elite group. For many others, their timing and mechanical mishaps will only become apparent in the middle of the night.

The GREEN section of the route is the connection , the RED is the Special Section of the stage.

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Permalink Reply by Chupakabras on January 10, 2014 at 1:13am

BJ was able to find that waypoint, he is very happy because he was not penalyzed, it only toke him like 3 hours to find it, Lol,.

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Permalink Reply by Hendricus on January 10, 2014 at 1:26am

Hahaha

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Permalink Reply by Tim Nation on January 10, 2014 at 6:48pm

if you removed the penalty Nasser would be 2nd right now and moving up from 5th but Sainz currently 6th would still be 5th so while it has hurt him he was still behind some

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Permalink Reply by Hendricus on January 10, 2014 at 1:24am

About those tricky way points. Remember last year in Stage 1, when several racers missed the way point? I remember Peterhansel seemed to motor right through it, when many other struggled to find it. I think it was Sainz that protested, and was allowed to miss it without penalty.

I remember thinking that something seemed fishy about this too. But I have no evidence, and it's not received well when something - anything - does not go your way, and the first thing you do is proclaim, "Somebody is cheating!" So I just leave it in the category of "Things that make you go 'humm?' "

Peterhansel, Roma, and others seem to have an instinctual sense about this race. They are strong in all the elements that make up this race. I truly believe this. This is not hard to believe. It's pretty obvious, but every once in awhile something happens and the skeptic in me says, "humm?"

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Permalink Reply by yano on January 10, 2014 at 1:56am

are comparing their experience to robby' !???
they won this thing so many times , they know how it works .
if they have no mecnical issues they are almost unbeatable .
i heard peter say that he had 25000 race km in the mini without a single problem .
that puts you in an other mental state , no !?
and about your huh feeling , well we rather not start thinking like so , peter had put in most anti robby side the idea that he's a cheater ....

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Permalink Reply by Team Maranello on January 10, 2014 at 1:57am

Sainz protested and was given his time back, but the next day ASO took the time again. King Carlos did not get away with this complaining last time.

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Permalink Reply by yano on January 10, 2014 at 3:32am

baldwin 10h behind leaders ...
must hqve hell of a days starting in the
30's spot .
i can't imagine getting fech fech , camel grass , trail upsidown , mixed up with dust and blasting
flying by russian trucks !!!!