Vatanen triumphs in Dakar Rally

Former world rally champion Ari Vatanen won the 15th stage of the Dakar Rally today with Hiroshi Masuoka valiantly keeping the fight for overall victory alive.

Vatanen completed today’s 477-kilometre stage across Egypt between Luxor and Abu Rish in four hours six minutes 51 seconds to pip fellow rally legend Miki Biasion by over six minutes and claim his third stage win of the event.

Masuoka came fifth, one place ahead of Mitsubishi team-mate Stephane Peterhansel, to close the gap on the Frenchman in the race for overall victory to 25 minutes 50 seconds with two stages remaining.

Biasion’s second place today moved him closer to the overall podium, with third-placed Jean-Pierre Fontenay now only seven minutes ahead after suffering a puncture.

In the bike class, Fabrizio Meoni got some measure of revenge following his time-consuming accident yesterday with a stage win today.

The Italian wrote off his chances of overall victory after accident damage delayed him on stage 14 but he responded in style today, although he remains over half an hour behind leader Richard Sainct.

The Frenchman finished fifth today, one place behind nearest challenger Cyril Despres, who is now just over 10 minutes off the lead in second overall.

Sainct was pleased with his progress on a stage where competitors were forbidden to use the global positioning systems to find their way.

He said: “My day went well. I started in first place this morning and stayed alone at my own pace.

“This special without a GPS was very interesting. I had no pressure to go quickly and was able to focus on the road book. I didn’t make any mistakes.”

Vladimir Tchaguine remains leader of the truck class, although his advantage has been cut to one hour 12 minutes 27 seconds after finishing runner-up today behind overall second-placed man Andre de Azevedo.

On tomorrow’s penultimate stage, the competitors travel 365 kilometres across Egypt from Abu Rish to Sharm El Sheikh.