Rally hit by security threat

Dakar Rally competitors are enjoying an unexpected weekend off after security fears caused the cancellation of two stages.

Rally organisers have been warned of “uncontrolled” militias operating around the town of Mopti in Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso, and have reacted by cancelling stages 10 and 11.

The weekend stages would have passed near Mopti but they have been replaced by a non-timed trip from Nema in Mauritania to the Malian town of Bamako and then on to Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso.

Gilbert Ysern, general manager of rally organisers ASO, revealed the extent of the security threat.

He told www.eurosport.com: “We were alerted by the authorities in Mali and in France that security was not going to be guaranteed around the town of Mopti, and for the passage of the rally around that area.

“We received this alert on Thursday and they said that a few military troops were acting in an uncontrolled manner on rally route. As we are very specific about our security we’ve decided to cancel stages 10 and 11.”

Stephane Peterhansel leads the event despite being pipped to the stage victory yesterday by fellow Mitsubishi driver Hiroshi Masuoka, who moved up to second place in the standings. Gregoire de Mevius slipped to third overall.

British hopes of glory were ended yesterday when Colin McRae and Patsy Quick both suffered mechanical problems.

Quick, from East Sussex, failed to take the startline for stage nine and her hopes of becoming the first British woman to finish the motorcycle event ended there.

McRae, the 1995 World Rally champion, was already well down the standings after losing his four-wheel drive on Thursday when transmission problems on his Nissan struck again yesterday to end his campaign in the car class.

Cyril Despres won yesterday’s stage from Alfie Cox but that was not enough to dislodge overall leader Joan Roma, whose fourth place kept him on top.

Richard Sainct closed the gap on Roma though with third on stage nine, cutting the Spaniard’s lead to just over three minutes.

Jean Brucy had been in contention for victory but his rally ended with a crash on stage nine, with the Frenchman suffering a broken shoulder.