As day five of the 2013 Dakar Rally draws to a close it does so with the YZ450F based Yamahas of Frenchmen David Casteu and Olivier Pain having raced ahead to again set the pace in the special stage. The 274km trek from Arequipa and Arica became Team Casteu Yamaha Racing France rider Casteu’s third Dakar stage victory.
Yamaha Racing France’s Pain was just one minute behind him to make it a Yamaha one-two. The results keep Pain at the top of the overall standings with Casteu just one minute behind him, and then a further six minutes to the next rider.
Frans Verhoeven made up valuable ground from yesterday’s frustrating result following a technical issue. The Dutch Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven Team rider wrapping up the stage in 15th to move four places up the overall standings.
Yamaha Racing Team Argentina quad rider Marcos Patronelli continued in winning form today, taking his fourth consecutive stage victory of the Rally. The Yamaha YF700M based quad looking stronger than ever and taking the top four positions in both the day’s stage and the overall standings.
“The stage I won in 2010 seems a long time ago,” said David Casteu. “I’ve always said to myself that winning a special stage is fabulous. What’s more, winning at the start of the rally when all the riders are still in it, it’s really great. At the end of the Dakar, it can be argued that other riders relax and manage their position. When you win like that with all these riders who’ve got the bit between their teeth, it’s good. Also, it was on a 136-km long special stage, so today it was like a long sprint. I’m really happy about it. I’ve really got the feel of my bike now and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a bike on which I feel good, on which I gobble up the obstacles and behind the handlebars of which I’m relaxed and calm. I arrived on this Dakar having taken stock, with the aim of enjoying each moment, each second. I’m 38 years old and I’m going to take every day as it comes. I’m itching to ride flat out and today I had great fun”.
“This morning, I didn’t know how it was going to work out,” said Olivier Pain. “I wasn’t stressed out, but I wanted to avoid making a mistake so that people wouldn’t say, ‘he got caught out because he got too big for his boots’. I set off in a good state of mind. I was especially concentrating on not falling. I made a small navigation error right at the beginning, but I put it right straight away. I didn’t see Joan (Barreda) stopped next to the track. I don’t know if he had problems or if he made a mistake. I had to open the road for three-quarters of the day. David started to catch up with me a bit in the middle, but I put some distance in between us near the end. It was a good special stage, very dangerous at the beginning with a bit of navigation before a big rocky area. The end was more twisting in a canyon with nice tracks and some fesh-fesh. It was a nice stage to ride and I’m still leader. That makes it two days running now”.
Red Bull KTM’s multiple Dakar winner Cyril Despres of France consolidated his position in third place in the overall standings after Stage five of the Dakar Rally that saw competitors say farewell to Peru and cross the border into Chile.
Despres was fifth in the stage on the KTM 450 Rally bike, trailing the stage leader David Casteu by just four minutes 07. He now has to concentrate on gaining back the six minute 07 deficit he has with overall leader Olivier Pain.
Fastest KTM factory rider on Wednesday was Joan Pedrero of Spain who finished in third place after the total 411 km ride over a mix of rocky ground, hard pack and just 10 km of sand that made up the 136 km of timed special. It was a strong ride by the Spaniard and a distinct improvement on his previous day when he finished twenty third in the stage. For teammate Ruben Faria, his thirteenth place finish was enough to keep him in contention and after Wednesday’s ride the Portuguese factory rider and who is Despres’ ‘Water Carrier’ or support rider is currently in fourth overall.
American Kurt Caselli, who is riding in place of the injured Marc Coma continues to deliver a strong performance and managed to hang on to his very creditable twentieth place overall position. Also consistent are the three riders making up the KTM factory B Team: ‘Kuba’ Przygonski of Poland and the two South Africans Riaan Van Niekerk and Darryl Curtis.
Thursday’s sixth stage from Arica to Calama is a punishing ride of 767 km with a liaison section of 313 km and 454 km of timed special during which they will brush the Pacific coastline on their way south. As organizers promised before the race, there will be very little let up of pace in the first half of the more than 8000 km ride to the finish in Santiago, Chile and there is still three very long stages before they take the one rest day on Sunday.
Results Stage Five Arequipa to Arica: total distance 411 km – liaison of 275 km and 136 km of timed special
1, David Casteu, France, Yamaha 1:39.42
2, Olivier Pain, France, Yamaha 1:40.51
3, Joan Pedrero, Spain, KTM, 1:43.07
4, Alessandro Botturi, Italy Husqvarna, 1:43.09
5, Cyril Despres, France, KTM, 1:43.49
6, Stefan Svitko, Slovakia, KTM 1:444.22
7, Chaleco Lopez, Chile, KTM 1:44.27
8, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Honda 1:44.34
9, Alain Duclos, France, Sherco 1:44.43
10, Ivan Jakes, Slovakia, KTM 1:45.27
Overall Standings after Stage Five
1, Pain, 11:51.29
2, Casteu, 11:52.44
3, Despres, KTM, 11:57.36
4, Faria, KTM 12:05.03
5, Villadoms, 12:05.05
6, Lopez, KTM, 12:05.08
7, Botturi, 12:05.29
8, Przygonski, KTM 12:10.29
9, Svitko, KTM 12:12.14