Dakar 2024: Honda's Pablo Quintanilla Wins Stage 5, Hero MotoSports Retakes Overall Lead

Stage 5 of the 2024 Dakar Rally finds the Honda factory squad well in control, as Pablo Quintanilla takes first place in the motorcycle class. Quintanilla beat off his competitors and came out on top after navigating the difficult 118km special stage, which had formidable dunes. Adrien Van Beveren of Honda takes second place in the motorcycle category, while Toby Price, a former champion, rounds off the podium. Thanks to this result, all three riders see an improvement in their overall rankings. But this season, the Kalahari Ferrari stands head and shoulders above the competition.

Also happening today are some major changes, including Nasser Al-Attiyah winning the race for the first time this year, Ross Branch taking back first place in the Bikes overall standings, and Marcelo Medeiros winning three stages this season. Every stage of the Dakar Rally adds another wrinkle to the already intense competition.

Dakar 2024: Stage 5 Motorcycle Result

Jose "Nacho" Cornejo of Honda was at the head of the field in the exciting fifth stage of the Dakar Rally for Bikes, where a tense battle broke out among the best riders. In a closely contested match, though, his partner Ricky Brabec challenged his dominance. Throughout the special stage, Cornejo and Brabec engaged in a thrilling battle for bonus points, with the lead changing hands multiple times.

Also Read: Dakar 2024: Nacho Cornejo Wins Stage 4, Honda Takes Overall Lead from Hero MotoSport

Pablo Quintanilla, one of their rivals, unexpectedly turned out to be their strongest competitor. In addition to setting the best time at the 80-kilometre point, Quintanilla kept his lead all the way to the finish line, winning stage seven of the Dakar. Another Honda teammate, Adrien Van Beveren, trailed Quintanilla by just over three minutes and almost missed out on first place.

Toby Price of Red Bull KTM and Daniel Sanders of Red Bull GasGas finished third and fourth, respectively. Following a setback in the previous stage due to mechanical issues, Mason Klein recovered admirably and finished fifth quickest.

To spice up the battle, the Rally GP grid would start in reverse for the next stage, with Joan Barreda Bort of Hero set to go out front. 

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Dakar 2024: Hero MotoSports

In the most recent stage, Ross Branch not only made a competitive comeback, but he also reclaimed the overall lead, which he now possesses with a commanding advantage of one minute and fourteen seconds.

On the other hand, Joan Barreda Bort had a rough day full of falls, which led to a 27th-place finish and a spot at the back of the Rally GP class. His disastrous showing has dropped him to last place in the day's standings. Barreda Bort will face an even more formidable test in stage 6 as the first starter due to the peculiarities of the reverse grid for Rally GP.

Ross Branch said: "Today was okay. It was 118 kms of just sand dunes. Some good dunes, some bad, some broken - a little bit of everything! We're here in one piece, and in a good position to start tomorrow. Stage 6 is going to be super interesting, difficult, and really hard on the bikes and the riders. It's going to be a long day, but let's see how we can ace the new format."

Joan Barreda said: "It was not really a great day for me today. I started pushing on the dunes early on, and I got stuck in the dunes a bit, and faced issues with my cap repeater. So I had to keep looking on the GPS to navigate forward, and in the course I encountered a rather bad crash in some camel grass. I have a lot of pain in my body, but we will try our best to recover well for the next stage."

The 48-hour Chrono stage, an important upgrade over the conventional marathon stages, is the next exciting event in the Dakar 2024 schedule. In Stage 6, competitors will face 800 kilometres of difficult dunes in the Empty Quarter over a period of two days.