The Finn Ari Vatanen, with the Swedish cartographer Bruno Berglund, won five straight stages in 1989 in what was then called the Paris-Dakar Rally, and now only the Dakar Rally.

After that, no one has ever managed the feat of winning five consecutive stages.

Until today.

Then the French legend Sebastien Loeb, with the Belgian cartographer Fabian Lurquin by his side, won the fifth straight stage.

- It was a perfect day: No mistakes, no stops, no U-turns.

We drove well and the car worked perfectly, says Loeb, according to the Reuters news agency.

Far behind the leader

Loeb finished 3.19 ahead of Swedish Mattias Ekström, and is second overall.

But the Frenchman's hopes of catching up with Qatari leader Nasser Al-Attiyah, who is the reigning champion, are not very high.

This as the Qatari Toyota driver has a lead of 1 hour and 27 minutes.

- Second place is our goal, says Loeb.

"Enough management"

Qatari leader Al-Attiyah finished third on today's 185km marathon, 3.31 behind Loeb and twelve seconds behind Ekström.

- It feels good to finish the marathon stage, and to have the car in such good condition.

If we finish in the top five on every day that is left, that's okay with me, we have a big enough lead, he says.

Mattias Ekström, who drives with map reader Emil Bergkvist, is in 18th place in the summary.

ARCHIVE: Ekström won the prologue of the Dakar rally (December 31):

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Mattias Ekström and map reader Emil Bergkvist started the Dakar rally with victory Photo: Bildbyrån/Audi Sport