4) The truck category saw a big shift after a fascinating Stage Four over 511km that saw Andrey Karginov (pictured above) claim a second consecutive stage win by just one minute 29 seconds from the Czech Republic's Martin Macik.
The Russian was just that little bit too cute for the Big Shock Racing driver over the dunes with 2014 champion Karginov cutting Kamaz-Master teammate Eduard Nikolaev's overall lead to just four minutes 58 seconds.
5) Loeb showed exactly why the rest of the car field should fear him as he roared back in sensational fashion to win Stage Five by 10 minutes 22 seconds from overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA).
The PH Sport driver, who has yet to win the highly coveted Dakar rally-raid title, hailed the day as "perfect" as he cut the overall gap to the Qatari down to 40 minutes.
More rally news:
https://rallysportmag.com/spectacular-season-launch-for-wrc-in-birmingham/SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
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