Al-Attiyah stays in Dakar contention, Peterhansel takes lead

Sport360 staff 11:02 07/01/2014
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  • Back in the hunt: Peterhansel bounced back from sixth position to top the standings.

    Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah remains in contention of the 36th Dakar Rally after retaining third place following the second stage, while defending champion Stephane Peterhansel bounced back to take the lead.

    After the opening stage, Al-Attiyah was just 46 seconds behind then-leader Carlos Sousa, however three crashes on the dirt and dunes course from San Luis to San Rafael saw him fall 4min 10sec nehind Mini team-mate Peterhansel.

    Peterhansel was down in sixth at 4min 21sec from Portugal's Sousa after suffering a puncture on Sunday’s opening stage.

    The Frenchman, looking for a 12th Dakar title following six in the motorcycles and five previous ones in cars, prevailed after 433km in temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in 3hrs 52min 05sec, 46sec ahead of Spain’s Carlos Sainz and 5min 34sec from South Africa’s Giniel De Villiers. 

    Peterhansel was far chippier than he had been after Sunday’s stage.

    “It was a nice stage, really fast at the beginning because the average was more than 100kph,” he said. “It was a mix with a lot of fast tracks, then it was rios (riverbeds) with a lot of rocks and the risk of getting a puncture.

    “At the end there were also very nice dunes, but the navigation was easy in the dunes because there were a lot of people everywhere in the dunes. At the top of each dune, it was necessary to follow the public, so it was easy to do the navigation.”

    Sainz moved up after starting the day in fifth at more than 4min down.

    “I think it was a good stage. We didn’t have any problems and we just went through very fast,” said the former World Rally champion.

    “Some parts were very fast, there were some difficult dunes as well, but everything was ok.

    “We didn’t have any punctures. I was a little bit careful to stop the tyres wearing.”

    Briton Sam Sunderland won the day’s 359km motorcycle stage on a Honda in 3hr 42min 10sec ahead of Chile’s Francisco Lopez on a KTM, at 39sec, and Spain’s Joan Barreda, also on a Honda, at 2min.

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