Peterhansel retains lead despite taking wrong turn

STEPHANE PETERHANSEL lost his way on stage 11 of the Dakar Rally but remains on course for a third successive victory.

The Mitsubishi driver took a wrong turn yesterday, forcing him to turn back and costing him 15 minutes on nearest challenger Luc Alphand. Despite that problem, Peterhansel remains the clear leader, with a 25-minute advantage over team-mate Alphand.

But Peterhansel was unhappy after a difficult day behind the wheel and he now fears a lowly starting position today could again see him hampered by dust. “It was a bad day. There was a small track and we went the wrong way for four kilometres and then came back the wrong way for another four kilometres. Then we found the correct track, but we were in the thick dust behind Carlos Sousa. I used the horn, but we followed behind him for over 120km.

“Luc started 15th today and had a good time, so maybe we will not lose too much time in the dust tomorrow.”

Yesterday’s 143-mile stage in Mali from Kayes to Bamako was won by Volkswagen’s Giniel de Villiers, whose team-mate Bruno Saby was second. Alphand was third but complained de Villiers was taking too many chances in his fight to return to the front.

“I think that Giniel is playing his last joker with the speed he drove at today,” he said. “That is not a pace safe enough to reach Dakar.”

De Villiers’ efforts yesterday only slightly improved his overall standing in third position, moving him to within 43 minutes of Peterhansel.

The Dakar Rally’s only female winner, Jutta Kleinschmidt, suffered a nightmare start to yesterday’s action. She hit a tree within a few miles of the start, damaging her steering and costing her well over an hour to put her fifth place in jeopardy. After Tuesday’s non-timed stage to pay their respects to the late Andy Caldecott, the bikers returned to action yesterday. Alain Duclos, of Malian origin, set the fastest time but Marc Coma was in second to cement his position at the top of the overall leaderboard.