Sainz sees Dakar lead decimated
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 21:14Guerlain Chicherit took his maiden Dakar Rally stage win as Carlos Sainz saw his overall lead slashed.
Frenchman Chicherit, a former world free skiing champion, came out on top on the 11th stage of the event from Santiago to San Juan in his BMW, but Volkswagen driver Sainz endured a troubled day.
The Spaniard picked up damage to his car early in the stage and was forced to reduce his pace through the rest of the test, eventually finishing more than seven minutes behind Chicherit.
That delay meant the former world rally champion's team-mate, Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah, was able to cut his lead from 10 minutes down to four-and-a-half.
Argentina's Orlando Terranova was second on the day to secure Mitsubishi's best result of the event to date, with Giniel de Villiers third and Al-Attiyah fourth.
Frans Verhoeven of Holland took stage honours in the bike class but France's Cyril Despres has an overall advantage of almost 81 minutes on his KTM.
Ireland's Philip Noone finished 76th of the 92 finishers and is 88th in the overall standings.
Firdaus Kabirov of Russia came out on top in the truck category, finishing ahead of aggregate leader Vladimir Chagin who leads by 72 minutes, while Sebastian Halpern was the victor in the quad class, where his Argentinian countryman Marcos Patronelli continues to hold a dominant overall advantage.
