Peterhansel claims latest Dakar stage

Stephane Peterhansel won Thursday's sixth stage of the Dakar Rally to record his 20th stage victory in the car class as Carlos Sainz extended his overall lead.

Peterhansel, whose BMW was delayed by transmission problems yesterday, passed 11 cars to finish the Antofagasta to Iquique run ahead of Sainz, with yesterday's winner, American Mark Miller, placing third.

The victory was a record 53rd in all categories for Frenchman Peterhansel.

It moved him up to eighth overall, two hours, four minutes and two seconds behind the Volkswagen of Sainz.

German manufacturer Volkswagen kept hold of the top three spots in the race rankings, with Nasser Al-Attiyah, who finished fourth today, in second place second, 15mins 24secs behind Sainz, and Miller third.

In the bike class, Italian rider Luca Manca suffered a serious fall 10 kilometres into the stage and was immediately taken to hospital.

In a separate incident, Portugal's Paulo Goncalves (BMW) had to withdraw after a fall at the 195km point left him with a broken collarbone.

The stage was won by Spain's Marc Coma, France's Cyril Despres retaining the overall bike lead.

Russian Vladimir Chagin triumphed in the truck class to extend his race lead, while in the quad category Marcos Patronelli claimed his second consecutive stage win - ahead of his brother Alejandro - to move further out in front.