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.