Nasser Al-Attiyah claimed a narrow triumph in the third special stage of the Dakar Rally to close on overall leader Carlos Sainz.
Al-Attiyah (BMW), who won on day one, completed the 695km Puerto Madryn-Ingeniero Jacobacci stage in four hours 29 minutes and 27 seconds, with Sainz following him home only 35 seconds back in his Volkswagen.
The Qatari driver has reduced the time deficit in the overall standings to only 3mins 40secs on Sainz.
In the motorbikes, Marc Coma claimed his second victory of three stages to extend his lead.
The Spaniard, who won the opening stage on Saturday, overcame the problems he suffered on his KTM on Sunday to win with a time of 5hrs 18min 17secs.
He was 17min 49secs ahead of both his compatriot Jordi Viladoms (KTM) and Norway's Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM).
Coma, who was reportedly given oil by an eight-year-old child to allow him to continue the race yesterday, has stretched his overall lead up to 39min 11secs over David Fretigne (Yamaha), who finished seventh.
Title holder Cyril Despres suffered more troubles as he developed a bulge on his wheel which badly restricted his speed. The Frenchman ran more than one hour behind the leader to end 47th.
In the trucks, the Russian trio of Vladimir Chagin, Sergey Savostin and Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz), who started today fourth, won the special stage in 5hrs 15min 59secs.
Czech driver Josef Machacek (Yamaha) arrived at the end of the third stage 1min 47secs ahead of Frenchman Christophe Declerck (Yamaha) in the quads.
However, having won the first two stages, Declerck still leads by more than half an hour.
Al-Attiyah said: ‘Today, I had to attack. I lost a lot of time in yesterday's stage so I had to take that into account and push hard during this special stage.
‘And eventually, 80km before the finish, I even passed a bike who went astray towards the left at the same time so I avoided him and ran flat. We lost about three minutes changing the tyre but then we drove on as fast as ever.
‘Now I know that Carlos (Sainz) and I, we will be playing the game. Tomorrow, he will start behind me and I'm sure he will be putting the pressure on pretty quickly in the race.’
Nine-time Dakar champion Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi), who ended fifth today, claimed he was hampered by dust on the route.
He said: ‘It was a fast stage. We had a hard time keeping the lead car in our sight. We lost time little by little.
‘From then on, there was nothing but dust and without a pacemaker in front, it was hard to keep going. We finished with a delay. I hope we will find more technical routes because this is how we can think about making a difference.’
Coma, meanwhile, voiced concern at the punishment being taken by the motorbikes.
‘After the trouble I had yesterday, I was a bit concerned because there were a lot of riders ahead of me and a lot of dust too. But I could drive at my own pace. It was a fast stage with a very technical section, a very complex stage, actually,’ said Coma.
‘One thing is certain - the bikes are suffering a lot and the tyres are suffering even more. For now, we are staying out of trouble. Each one has his own strategy and we are doing fine with ours.’
Beleaguered Despres added: ‘Marc Coma is doing great. They must have worked hard. There must be a secret.
‘Today, I have lost a lot of time again. I have no solution to the problem.
‘Today, I am not sure I have what it takes technically to win the Dakar.’
Leading Positions Stage 3 (Puerto Madryn-Jacobacci, 694km)
Cars: 1 Al Attiyah (Qat) & Thorner (Swe) BMW 04hrs 29mins 27secs, 2 Sainz (Spa) & Perin (Fra) Volkswagen 04:30:02, 3 Depping (Ger) & Gottschalk (Ger) Volkswagen 04:31:07, 4 De Villiers (Zam) & Von Zitzewitz (Ger) Volkswagen 04:33:28, 5 Peterhansel (Fra) & Cottret (Fra) Mitsubishi 04:34:58, 6 Miller (USA) & Pitchford (Zam) Volkswagen 04:37:27, 7 Terranova (Arg) & Guehennec (Fra) BMW 04:38:31, 8 Roma (Spa) & Cruz Senra (Spa) Mitsubishi 04:38:42, 9 Chicherit (Fra) & Baumel (Fra) BMW 04:41:15, 10 Gordon (USA) & Grider (USA) Hummer 04:43:02
Bikes: 1 Coma (Spa) KTM 05hrs 18mins 17secs, 2 Ullevalseter (Nor) KTM 05:36:06, 3 Viladoms (Spa) KTM 05:36:06, 4 Casteu (Fra) KTM 05:36:33, 5 Farres Guell (Spa) KTM 05:36:59, 6 Marchini (Fra) Yamaha 05:39:55, 7 Fretigne (Fra) Yamaha 05:40:37, 8 Street (USA) KTM 05:41:07, 9 Knuiman (Ned) KTM 05:41:14, 10 Rodrigues (Por) KTM 05:42:51
Leadings Overall Positions:
Cars: 1 Sainz (Spa) & Perin (Fra) Volkswagen 09hrs 04mins 48secs, 2 Al Attiyah (Qat) & Thorner (Swe) BMW 09:08:28, 3 De Villiers (Zam) & Von Zitzewitz (Ger) Volkswagen 09:10:33, 4 Peterhansel (Fra) & Cottret (Fra) Mitsubishi 09:13:35, 5 Roma (Spa) & Cruz Senra (Spa) Mitsubishi 09:19:10, 6 Miller (USA) & Pitchford (Zam) Volkswagen 09:20:33, 7 Terranova (Arg) & Guehennec (Fra) BMW 09:22:29, 8 Holowczyc (Pol) & Fortin (Bel) Nissan 09:39:13, 9 Gordon (USA) & Grider (USA) Hummer 09:39:20, 10 Alphand (Fra) & Picard (Fra) Mitsubishi 09:43:35
Bikes: 1 Coma (Spa) KTM 10hrs 31mins 49secs, 2 Fretigne (Fra) Yamaha 11:11:00, 3 Verhoeven (Ned) KTM 11:13:03, 4 Ullevalseter (Nor) KTM 11:14:14, 5 Czachor (Pol) KTM 11:15:10, 6 Street (USA) KTM 11:16:25, 7 Viladoms (Spa) KTM 11:19:06, 8 Marchini (Fra) Yamaha 11:20:11, 9 Knuiman (Ned) KTM 11:20:42, 10 Pain (Fra) Yamaha 11:27:05
