Officials said vehicles will cross the 4,700-meter high mountain pass in a convoy Friday, but there will be no competitive leg.

It was not immediately clear if the sixth leg would be run later, or if the rally would simply move to the seventh leg on Saturday.

Stephane Peterhansel of France leads the overall car category after Thursday's fifth leg, while Cyril Despres leads the motorcycles.

Meanwhile, Qatar's defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah suffered another disastrous drive on Thursday's fifth stage of the Dakar Rally, losing more than 20 minutes after his Hummer overheated.

Poland's Krzysztof Holowczyc, in a Mini, won the stage between Chilecito and Fiambala ahead of American Robby Gordon, with Stephane Peterhansel coming in third to maintain his lead atop the overall standings.

Holowczyc finished the 153km special in 2hr 10min 51sec, 1:01 in front of Gordon, with Peterhansel, a six-time Dakar motorcycling champion and three-time car winner, at 3:52.