Sainz maintains Dakar dominance

Sainz has made a big impact in the early stages of the rally

Spain's Carlos Sainz extended his lead in the Dakar Rally with victory in Wednesday's fifth stage from Ouarzazate to Tan Tan in Morocco.

Sainz finished 30 seconds ahead of France's Stephane Peterhansel with South Africa Giniel De Villiers third.

He leads De Villiers by just over three and a half minutes in the overall car standings.

Spain's Isidre Esteve Pujol won the bike stage ahead of compatriot and overall leader Marc Coma.

Sainz was pleased with how the day worked out but admitted he feared the large sand dunes lying ahead in the desert in the forthcoming stages.

He said: "For the moment, everything is fine. It was a good day, but a hard day.

"There were plenty of stones. I spent the stage trying to avoid them. It's one day of the race less to complete, but we know there is still much to do.

"Now the real Dakar starts. Perhaps my lack of experience in the dunes will come into play."

Coma, who still leads the motorcycle stages by almost 10 minutes, admitted the tough terrain had taken a lot out of him.

"It was a hard stage with a fair bit of mountain riding. It required a lot of physical effort," he said.

"After that, there were the stones under tyres worn by two days of racing - you had to be careful."

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Stage 5 result (cars)
1. Carlos Sainz (ESP) FRA Volkswagen 3hr 36min 39sec
2. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) Mitsubishi 30sec behind
3. Giniel De Villiers (RSA) Volkswagen 1:41
4. Luc Alphand (FRA) Mitsubishi 4:17
5. Joan Nani Roma (ESP) Mitsubishi 4:32
6. Guerlain Checherit (FRA) BMW 5:03
7. Carlos Sousa (POR) Volkswagen 6:57
8. Mark Miller (USA) Volkswagen 7:38
9. Benoit Rousselot (FRA) Nissan 10:10
10. Hiroshi Masuoka (JPN) Mitsubishi 12:30

Cars overall standings
1. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Volkswagen 12hr 53min 50sec
2. Giniel De Villiers (RSA) Volkswagen 3:36 behind
3. Carlos Sousa (POR) Volkswagen 11:17
4. Joan Nani Roma (ESP) Mitsubishi 16:16
5. Luc Alphand (FRA) Mitsubishi 20:27
6. Guerlain Checherit (FRA) BMW 23:31
7. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) Mitsubishi 24:31
8. Hiroshi Masuoka (JPN) Mitsubishi 25:19
9. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA) Schlesser-Ford 35:50
10. Mark Miller (USA) Volkswagen 49:32

Stage 5 result (bikes)
1. Isidre Esteve Pujol (Sp) KTM 3hr 56min 22sec2. Marc Coma (Sp) KTM at 1min 54sec
3. Cyril Despres (Fra) KTM 5:02
4. Jordi Villadoms (Sp) KTM 10:50
5. Chris Blais (USA) KTM 14:26
6. Ruben Faria (Por) KTM 14:34
7. Francisco Lopez (Chi) Honda 14:57
8. David Casteu (Fra) KTM 15:15
9. Giovanni Sala (Ita) KTM 18:36
10. Jean De Azevedo (Bra) KTM 19:27

Bikes overall standings:
1. Marc Coma (Sp) KTM 14hr 10min 32sec
2. Isidre Esteve Pujol (Sp) KTM at 9:56
3. David Casteu (Fra) KTM at 37:41
4. Cyril Despres (Fra) KTM at 47:33
5. Chris Blais (USA) KTM at 47:36
6. Jordi Villadoms (Sp) KTM 1:07:10
7. Frans Verhoeven (Ned) KTM 1:09:13
8. David Fretigne (Fra) Yamaha 1:10:29
9. Francisco Lopez (Chi) Honda 1:13.53
10. Jean De Azevedo (Bra) KTM 1:14:50