Dakar Rally Saudi Arabia 2025: Ibn Seaidan Claims Victory In Challenger Class As Al-Rajhi Holds Second Overall

The sixth annual Dakar Rally Saudi Arabia's fifth stage commenced today, taking competitors from AlUla to Hail. This leg covered a total of 492 km, with 428 km being timed special stages. In the car category, Seth Quintero from the "Toyota Gazoo" team clinched first place, completing the distance in 4 hours, 32 minutes, and 53 seconds.

Quintero narrowly defeated Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah of the "Dacia Sandrider" team by just one second. Swedish driver Mattias Ekström from "Ford Motorsport" secured third place, trailing the leader by only 8 seconds. South African Henk Lategan of "Toyota Gazoo" maintained his lead in the overall standings.

In the motorcycle category, Luciano Benavides from Uruguay excelled on his "Red Bull KTM," finishing in 4 hours and 53 minutes. He outpaced Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren of "Monster Energy Honda HRC" by 47 seconds. Chilean José Ignacio Cornejo Florimo of "Hero Motorsports" finished third, 1 minute and 31 seconds behind.

Saudi driver Yasir ibn Seaidan led the lightweight "Challenger" vehicles category for the "BBR" team with a time of 4 hours, 51 minutes, and 27 seconds. Dutch driver Paul Spierings from "Rebellion & Spierings" followed in second place, trailing by 8 minutes and 22 seconds.

In the SSV lightweight vehicles category, Chilean Francisco Lopez Contardo from "Can-Am Factory" claimed victory with a time of 5 hours, 2 minutes, and 26 seconds. American Brock Heger of "Sebastien Loeb Racing" finished second, lagging by 20 minutes and 48 seconds.

Czech driver Martin Macík led the truck category for the "MM Technology" team with a time of 5 hours, 1 minute, and 53 seconds. His teammate Kees Koolen followed him closely at an interval of 18 minutes and 42 seconds.

Tomorrow marks a rest day for participants to recuperate before resuming on Saturday with stage six. This next phase will take them from Hail to Dawadmi over a distance of 829 km, including a challenging stretch of timed special stages spanning 605 km.

With inputs from SPA