Dakar Rally 2023, Stage 5: Skyler Howes takes overall lead; Mason Klein rebounds for fourth

By Jan 5, 2023, 8:30 AM EST
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American riders remained a force in the 2023 Dakar Rally as Skyler Howes took the overall lead in the bikes category while Mason Klein finished fourth in Stage 5.

Rebounding from a fuel pump problem that cost him a stage win Wednesday, Klein pushed to reach the podium a little over 5 minutes behind winner Adrien Van Beveren in a very physical 645-kilometer fifth stage littered with massive dunes.

“The stage went really well for me,” said Klein, who left the starting line later after an 11th in Stage 4. “Starting further back made navigation almost unnecessary. It was a super good stage. I’m totally spent, though. I’m so tired, and my back hurts so bad. The dunes just never stopped. There were so many times when I was ready to pull over, I was like just so done.

“When I saw the finishing line, I got so happy.”

Perhaps even happier was Howes, who finished sixth in the stage (10 minutes off the lead) and moved into first overall. Howes has been extremely consistent on his Husqvarna 450 Rally Factory bike with three podiums and no finishes outside the top 10.

AUTO-MOTO-RALLY-DAKAR
Skyler Howes finished sixth during Stage 5 of the 2023 Dakar Rally and took the overall lead in the bikes category (Franck Fife/ AFP via Getty Images).

Ranked ninth after Stage 1, he steadily has risen through the standings to the overall lead by 2 minutes, 7 seconds over Toby Price through five of 14 stages. (Daniel Sanders, who had led after Stage 4, fell to eighth overall after losing 26 minutes in a 21st-place Stage 5.)

In an Instagram post, Howes wrote: “Another demanding day! I thought I had a good pace going this morning when I look back and see Toby running me down! I tried to pick up the pace and next thing we know we had got off the roadbook and were lost. Looking back at where we made the mistake I’m kicking myself because it’s so clear what we were supposed to do. But at the time, with the track in front of us more or less invisible from the wind and rain, it was easy to get tripped up.

“After finding our way again we were all in one big group and I saw the gnarliest crash ever, (Joan) Barreda (Bort) swapped out in the camel grass right in front of Toby and Toby drilled him and they both went tumbling. It was carnage. I still can not believe what I witnessed. And that Joan was able to continue after being fully knocked out. So insane. Glad both of those guys are more or less ok. Anyways, lots of camel grass and hard work on the body. Looks like some more challenges with a flooded bivouac and long liaisons tomorrow! 💪🏼”

Klein, 21, is 6 minutes, 12 seconds behind Howes in fourth overall and has been nearly as consistent in only his second Dakar Rally start.

Stage 5 marked his third top-four finish (including a Stage 2 victory), though it came with some anxious moments for the Agua Dulce, California, native who lost several minutes to repairs after water got in his fuel line with 100 kilometers left in Stage 4.

Klein was relieved “we had no problems with the bike” Thursday. “We were super lucky,” he said. “They checked all the fuel. At the fuel stop I even drained some out to make sure that there was no water. It sucks to lose 10 minutes for something silly like that. It was super frustrating, but we’ll just move on.”

In the cars division, Nasser Al-Attiyah widened his overall lead to more than 20 minutes with his second stage victory. The defending Dakar Rally champion won by nearly 2 minutes over the Audis of Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel.

“It was a very tough stage,” Al-Attiyah said. “We tried to really push like crazy. We took a lot of risks after the decision we made yesterday. The other teams have more power and more horsepower, but I’m happy to finish today without any problems. It’s very hard because the base is that we’re pushing a lot, and we are really tired.”

Sainz, 60, also was punished by the rough terrain.

“It was really very demanding for the body,” the three-time Dakar Rally champion said “I think I’ve injured my neck a little bit. I hope it’s not too bad tomorrow. The suspension was a little bit too hard, but it was not easy, the stage was rough. We hope we can carry on and get to the end. It’s still a long way. We need to keep pushing.”

Peterhansel, the rally raid legend known as “Mr. Dakar,” also said the conditions were brutal.

“For me, it was one of the hardest stages in my life,” Peterhansel said. “I don’t know why. Because the car was so hard with the suspension yesterday, we changed the suspension, so maybe the shocks were not good, or the rain in the sand made it harder than normally, but something about it was really not nice. We took a lot of impacts on the back of our necks, so it was not an easy stage for sure.”

After winning the fourth stage, Sebastien Loeb encountered mechanical problems and rolled his car, finishing more than 20 minutes behind Al-Attiyah.

“I think we were doing a good stage, but I made a mistake on a tricky dune,” Loeb said. ” We landed and hit a big bit of camel grass and ended up with the car on its side. So, we lost some time for this, but for the rest it was a good stage. There was no problem with the car, so that was quite good”.

In the T3 light prototype category, Seth Quintero rebounded with his first stage victory after a disastrous Stage 4 dropped him well off the lead. The American still trails overall leader Guillaume De Mevius by an hour and 5 minutes.

“It was super awesome,” the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver said.  Yesterday, unfortunately we had that big issue running out of fuel and shearing the hub of the left rear. Today I had a lot to prove to myself. We haven’t got a stage win yet, so I figured that it’s time to get one of those.

“We drove really well all day long and made no mistakes. We definitely had a little bit more left in the tank, but I think today we had an awesomely conservative pace just to get the job done. We’re going to keep doing that. We’ve gone to third overall, so we’re back in it. There’s a long way to go and we’ve got a lot of racing left, so we’ll keep trying to do our best and see what happens.”

Teammate and fellow American Austin “A.J.” Jones is in second overall after a third Thursday.

“It wasn’t the most fun stage, but we made it through and here we are,” said Jones, who is 7 minutes, 20 seconds behind De Mevius. “It wasn’t anything special for us. We just kind of cruised all day. We saw one of the guys who was in front of us in the general rankings who was stopped with some type of problem. After we saw that, we decided to just get to the finish and not risk doing anything crazy.”

After taking the overall lead with his second stage victory a day earlier, Red Bull teammate Mitch Guthrie fell out of contention in Stage 5 with a 35th-place finish that was nearly 8 hours behind Quintero. The American fell from first to 15th overall and is 7:31:08 behind the leader.

NBC Sports’ daily 6:30 p.m. ET coverage of the 2023 Dakar Rally will continue tonight on Peacock’s NBC Sports channel.

NEXT: Stage 6 of the  2023 Dakar Rally will cover 877 kilometers (including 466 km against the clock in the special) in a marathon journey from Ha’il to Al Duwadimi. The longest stage of the Dakar Rally will feature blazing speeds through extensive plateaus and capped by a barrage of dunes. Rally organizers announced Jan. 5 that Stage 6 and its special would be shortened by a few hundred kilometers because of rain-soaked course conditions that precluded putting the bivouac in Al Duwadimi.

Here are the stage winners and the top three in the overall rankings for each category (along with U.S. notables) after Stage 5 of the 2023 Dakar Rally:

Car

Stage 5 winner: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT), Toyota Gazoo Racing, 4:13:23.

General rankings: 1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT), Toyota Gazoo Racing, 20:47:36; 2. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA), Team Audi Sport, 21:10:12; 3. Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU), Overdrive Racing, 21:14:37.

Bike

Stage 5 winner: Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) 4:27:28

General rankings: 1. Skyler Howes (USA), Husqvarna Factory Racing, 23:16:37; 2. Toby Price (AUS), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 23:18:44; 3. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 23:21:53. U.S. notables: 4. Mason Klein (USA), BAS world KTM Racing Team, 23:22:49; 26. Jacob Argubright, Duust Co Rally Team, 26:15:33; 47. Pablo Copetti, Del Amo Motorsports, 30:03:33; 55. Paul Neff, American Rally Originals, 30:46:17; 63. Petr Vlcek, Detyens Racing, 31:34:21; 82. David Pearson, American Rally Originals, 34:01:08; 95. Lawrence Ace Nilson, Duust Rally Team, 38:31:53; 102. James Pearson, American Rally Originals, 42:28:25; 105. Morrison Hart, American Rally Originals, 44:47:32; 112. Kyle McCoy, American Rally Originals, 75:43:00.  Withdrew: Ricky Brabec (USA), Monster Energy Honda, 9:42:49.

Quad

Stage 5 winner:

General rankings: 1. Alexandre Giroud (FRA), Yamaha Racing, 28:46:12; 2. Francisco Moreno Flores (ARG), Dragon, 29:26:00; 3. Laisvydas Kancius (LTU), Story Racing S.R.O., 29:58:51; U.S. notable: 4. Pablo Copetti (USA), Del Amo Motorsports, 30:03:33.

T3 light prototype

Stage 5 winner: Seth Quintero (USA), Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team, 4:59:55.

General rankings: 1. Guillaume De Mevius (BEL), Grally Team, 24:15:39. 2. Austin “A.J.” Jones (USA), Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team, 24:22:59. 3. Seth Quintero (USA), Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team, 25:21:28. U.S. notable: Mitch Guthrie, Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team, 31:46:47.

T4 SSV

Stage 5 winner: Rokas Baciuska (LTU), Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team, 5:02:52.

General rankings: 1. Rodrigo Luppi De Oliveira (BRA), South Racing Can-Am, 25:13:20; 2. Eryk Goczal (POL), Energylandia Rally Team, 25:30:05; 3. Rokas Baciuska (LTU), Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team, 25:33:44.

Truck 

Stage 5 winner: Ales Loprais (CZE), Instaforex Loprais Praga, 5:06:57.

1. Ales Loprais (CZE), Instaforex Loprais Praga, 24:30:26; 2. Martin Vandenbrink (NLD), Eurol team De Rooy Iveco, 24:45:48; 3. Janus Van Kastren (NLD), Boss Machinery Team De Rooy Iveco, 25:22:24.

PAST RECAPS

PROLOGUE: Mattias Ekstrom leads Audi charge

STAGE 1: Ricky Brabec opens with victory; Carlos Sainz keeps Audi on top

STAGE 2: Mason Klein continues U.S. surge in bikes

STAGE 3: Brabec is eliminated by crash as inclement weather shortens stage

STAGE 4: Klein, Skyler Howes overcome adversity

CARRYING THE FLAG: U.S. drivers and riders in the 2023 Dakar Rally

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
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LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).