Antofagasta, Chile - Russian driver Vladimir Vasilyev maintained defending champion Mini's monopoly of the Dakar Rally on Thursday, making it five stage wins out of five on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
But 2010 winner Carlos Sainz retired from the race after rolling and destroying his troubled Peugeot.
Vasilyev clinched the 458km run from Chile's Atacama desert, the driest place on earth, to the coastal stop of Antofagasta.
The Toyota of Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Alrajhi was second on the stage - just 20 seconds behind - to remain third in the overall standings, while American Robbie Gordon was third on the day in his Hummer.
Mini's Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, the 2011 winner and overall leader, was fourth on Thursday with 11-times champion Stephane Peterhansel in a Peugeot a place further back.
“It was not an easy stage. We drove all the way until the last 10km with a flat tyre, so we decided to change the wheel,” said Al-Attiyah, who still managed to extend his lead by a further two minutes.
“We changed the puncture in 1 minute 35 seconds which is very fast.”
For the first time in the 2015 race, South Africa's 2009 winner Giniel de Villiers failed to finish on the podium. However, the works Toyota Hilux driver, sixth on the day, remained second overall.
"We decided not to take too many risks today, " he said later. "It was a long, tough route with lot of places to get things wrong, and at this stage we need to make sure that we finish each day in a reasonable position, rather than push for stage wins that could ultimately cost us the race."
"We have to keep in touch with Nassar; that's our goal - there are plenty of stage kilometres to go."
Stage 5 of the world's toughest motorsport event proved to be a turning point for De Villiers' team-mate Leeroy Poulter. He lost nearly an hour to the leaders on the stage, after an electrical short over the rough terrain stopped the car.
"We started strong, and were 11th-fastest past the first two checkpoints," said a tired Poulter after a late arrival at Antofagasta.
"But then the engine suddenly cut out, and we spent nearly an hour hunting for the problem. In the end it was an easy fix, and we were back up to race pace immediately."
Despite going strong towards the end of the stage, he posted only the 39th-fastest time on the day, and slipped down to 18th overall as a result.
Nissan Navara driver Johan van Staden posted his best result of the rally so far, coming 31st, less than an hour behind the leaders, and moving up four places to 30th in the overall standings.
Former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, recruited by Peugeot to spearhead the French manufacturers' return to the event after a 25-year absence, called it quits.
Having lost more than nine hours on Wednesday's fourth stage across the Andes and over the Atacama because of a steering problem, the Spaniard's 2008 DKR buggy was wrecked after rolling five times.
It was a problem too far for Sainz who had earlier limped into the overnight halt at Copiapo at 3:30 in the morning.
Team-mate Cyril Despres, a five-times champion on two wheels, added to Peugeot's misery when a clutch failure, which cost him four and a half hours on Wednesday, was followed by a barrel-roll which delayed his fifth stage efforts.
MOTORCYCLES
Four-times winner on two wheels and defending champion Marc Coma claimed his first stage victory of the 2015 edition, finishing the run to Antofagasta ahead of compatriot and overall leader Joan Barreda Bort.
Just as he had done on the fourth stage on Wednesday, Chile's Pablo Quintanilla took third.
KTM rider Coma took 2m16s out of Honda star Barreda Bort's overall lead.
But Barreda Bort still boasts a lead of more than 10 minutes while Portugal's Paulo Goncalves, also on a Honda, remains third in the standings after finishing fifth on the stage.
“It was a very tough stage. There was fesh-fesh all the time and in the fesh-fesh you cannot see the stones and it is not comfortable to ride,” said Coma in reference to the fine sand that can clog machines and obscure views.
“You are always having to pay attention. It's going to be very difficult to take time from Joan, but, you know, we have a lot of racing in front of us. There's the second part of the rally and we'll have two marathon stages.
“We will try like hell until the last day. We know that Joan is very fast and that he has a very high level, but we will try, for sure.”
Spain's Laia Sanz, the leading female rider, was 20th on the stage, holding 12th overall after losing 26 minutes.
Leading South African Rider Riaan van Niekerk finished a solid 17th on Stage 5, 22m52s behind Coma, and moved up a place to 15th in the overall rankings.
Fellow KTM stalwart Albert Hintenaus was 70th on the day, almost two hours adrift, but such is the attrition rate on the Dakar Rally that he moved up another two places to 62nd overall.
Wessel Bosman surely deserves some sort of ‘Iron Man’ award; he straggled into the Copiapo bivouac, stone last, after more than 25 hours on the road – having picked up another seven hours in penalties along the way – and immediately started Stage 5!
By the time of writing he had yet to reach Antofagasta.
AFP