Peterhansel takes stage and Dakar lead

French driver Stephane Peterhansel (Mini) won stage four of the Dakar Rally to reclaim the overall lead in the race.

The Dakar legend had lost his lead after a couple of punctures during stage three but rediscovered his form during the stretch between San Juan and Chilecito in Argentina.

He covered the 326-kilometre course in a time of three hours, 49 minutes 33 seconds to leave him 5mins 19secs ahead of Argentina's Orlando Terranova (Toyota) and 6:42 in front of South African Giniel De Villiers (Toyota).

He now holds an overall lead of 5:41 on De Villiers.

Overnight leader Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini) was only fifth in the stage, losing nearly 11 minutes, and he is now down to fourth in the overall standings, 8:10 adrift.

The Hummer duo of Robby Gordon and Nasser Al-Attiyah also lost big chunks of time of over 18 minutes and nearly 27 minutes respectively.

Defending champion Al-Attiyah was particularly unlucky as a mechanical failure saw him stopped for a full 15 minutes.

Marc Coma clawed back some time after winning the fourth stage in the bikes category.

The Spanish KTM rider had lost his lead in stage three after a navigational error but covered the stage in 4.16:43 to pull back 2:02 on French team-mate Cyril Despres who was second in the stage.

Dutchman Frans Verhoeven (Sherco) came in third, 8:26 behind Coma.

Despres still remains in charge of the race though as he holds an 8:10 lead over Coma.

Yamaha's Helder Rodrigues of Portugal is a distant third 26:48 back already.