Colin McRae today became the first Briton in 14 years to claim a Dakar Rally car stage victory.
He won the 478km stage 13 ahead of Nissan team-mates Giniel De Villiers and Ari Vatanen. The last British driver to claim a Dakar stage win was Mitsubishi's Andrew Cowan in 1990.
McRae said: "I came to learn but I would have been disappointed to have gone home without a win. I'd like to do it again. There still is a hell of a long way to Dakar. The others will be calculating a lot so I think we can try to win another one."
France's Stephane Peterhansel retains the overall lead and is one hour two minutes and 29 seconds ahead of second placed Hiroshi Masuoka.
The victory is remarkable turnaround for McRae, who failed to finish stage nine and almost had to pull out of the race. The 1995 world rally champion, was forced to spend two nights stuck in the desert after his Nissan broke down during the ninth stage when he was lying third.
The Scot only escaped being thrown out of the rally when he met the deadline for completing the stage by less than three hours, rejoining the rally three days later.
Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins
