Luciano Benavides ultimately won the fifth stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally – marking his first victory in this year’s edition of the race that counts towards the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
In fact, Adrien van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) was the fastest to complete the 428km special. However, he received a two-minute penalty, dropping him to second place.
As a result, Benavides (Red Bull KTM) inherited the victory, finishing 47 seconds ahead of the Frenchman. This wasn’t the only penalty of the day: Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM) was penalized by 8m10s, finishing 12th when, without the penalty, he would have been sixth.
In the overall standings, van Beveren is relegated to fourth place, as even without the penalty, he would still hold the same position. Sanders, on the other hand, remains the overall leader.
