JEDDAH: South African driver Henk Lategan won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally on Thursday as three-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah retained his overall lead.

Lategan claimed his first Dakar stage win in his Toyota, finishing one minute and 58 seconds quicker than nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb.

Lategan said a door of his car broke just 10km into the 421km stage, while he also suffered a puncture.

“I still don’t believe it,” he said. “I’m not sure what happened. We’ve honestly had a day from hell…