Sainz back in front

Former world champion Carlos Sainz reclaimed the lead of the Dakar Rally as Mitsubishi’s bid for a sixth consecutive win hit the skids.

Volkswagen driver Sainz, on his first Dakar effort, lost the lead with a disappointing debut on African sand yesterday but hit back in style to return to the top of the leaderboard.

He won the 240-mile fourth stage across Morocco from Er Rachidia to Ouarzazate by two minutes from the Ford-powered buggy of Thierry Magnaldi.

That put Sainz back in the overall lead as Volkswagen took a stranglehold on the top three positions.

Bruno Saby is his nearest challenger, almost five minutes adrift – while Jutta Kleinschmidt, the only female winner of the Dakar Rally, is close behind in third.

Today’s stage was an agonising one for Mitsubishi, though. They started the day holding the top two positions but had little to show for their efforts by the time their entourage reached Ouarzazate.

Nani Roma, bidding to replicate the feat of team-mate Stephane Peterhansel by winning on two wheels and four, lost the lead after conceding 11 minutes to Sainz.

The 2004 bike champion blamed a wrong turn for starting his troubles.

He said: “That was not a good day for me. After the dunes I was running well, but then we made a navigational error and took a track to the right.

“Then the problems started. I had a puncture after that; the jacking system was not fastened away securely, and we had to stop again to secure it. Then we finished the stage in the dust.”

He slipped to ninth overall, while the lead Mitsubishi is now former skiing champion Luc Alphand who is fourth after taking third on today’s stage.

At least Alphand and Roma finished the stage with their cars intact, unlike team-mate Hiroshi Masuoka.

The two-time winner was fortunate to reach the end of the stage after rolling twice and damaging his Mitsubishi.

“We saw this obstacle in the track far too late and we went over twice,” said Masuoka, who has dropped to 13th after losing almost half-an-hour.

“We passed a crossroads with some spectators, and then it was too late to slow for this obstacle and we crashed.”

Like team-mate Roma, Peterhansel also took a wrong turn – costing him 17 minutes and knocking him down to 11th overall.

In the bike section, Marc Coma took the leader after finishing second on today’s stage. Former leader Cyril Despres has dropped to third, behind Isidre Esteve Pujol who recovered from a disappointing effort yesterday to win stage four and move into second overall.