Sainz holds onto Dakar Rally lead
Friday, 15 January 2010Carlos Sainz saw his overall advantage trimmed to two minutes 48 seconds on the penultimate day of the Dakar Rally as Nasser Al-Attiyah threatened to come from behind to steal victory.
Punctures saw the former world rally champion's lead cut from 10 minutes down to four-and-a-half on Wednesday, but the Spaniard clawed some time back yesterday, winning the stage by 52 seconds from his Volkswagen team-mate and nearest rival.
However, BMW's Stephane Peterhansel won today's penultimate stage - the nine-time Dakar champion's 55th career stage win - with Al-Attiyah second and taking 2mins 32secs off Sainz, who was fourth on the stage from San Rafael and Santa Rosa.
The result sets up a tantalising 14th and final stage from San Rafael to Buenos Aires.
Norway's Pal Anders Ullevalseter took stage honours in the bike class and now lies second, 64 minutes behind France's Cyril Despres.
Christophe Declerck of France was the winner for the second straight day in the quad category, which is led by Marcos Patronelli by more than two hours.
The winning truck on the penultimate stage was driven by Firdaus Kabirov, with Vladimir Chagin holding an overall lead of 71 minutes.
