McRae sixth in Dakar's longest stage

Colin McRae survived the longest stage yet of the Dakar Rally in an impressive sixth overall today.

The Scot is more used to spreading a 400-kilometre World Rally over three days but met an entirely different experience today with a 337km dash across Morocco for stage five of the event.

But that mammoth stage did not prove too daunting for the 1995 World Rally champion, who recorded the sixth-fastest time to head into tomorrow’s sixth stage comfortably in the top 10.

McRae, driving a Nissan, was just over 14 minutes slower than pace-setter Stephane Peterhansel today to lie 16 minutes 12 seconds off the lead on his Dakar Rally début.

Peterhansel retained the overall lead of the event with the stage victory today, beating Hiroshi Masuoka’s Mitsubishi by 4mins 35secs.

Masuoka’s fine display today lifted him into second spot overall, more than nine minutes ahead of Gregoire de Mevius in third.

In the bike class there was no change to overall top three, with Isidre Esteve Pujol taking the stage win to extend his overall lead to 36secs after almost five hours of competition.

Fellow KTM rider Fabrizio Meoni is still second, while Cyril Despres remains third overall. Joan Roma’s second place on stage five lifted him to fourth.

East Sussex’s Patsy Quick, riding a KTM, was 144th on today’s stage to stand 137th overall as she attempts to become the first British woman to complete the event.

The leading Briton on two wheels is Derbyshire’s Mike Extance, whose fine 48th on stage today leaves him 47th overall on his Honda.

In the truck category Vladimir Tchaguine won stage five in a Kamaz to take the overall lead from Gerard de Rooy, who was second on stage today in his DAF.