Bad day for Mitsubishis as Sainz reclaims overall lead

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 on Monday 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 and one of their main challengers pulled out.

Two-time winner Hiroshi Masuoka rolled his Mitsubishi twice - and even though he was able to reach the end of the stage, his team were forced to withdraw the Japanese driver because of irreparable damage.

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

Yesterday’s stage was an agonising one for Mitsubishi, who saw their challenge blunted not only by Masuoka’s withdrawal but by bad days for their other drivers as well.

They started the day holding the top two positions but Nani Roma lost the lead after losing 11 minutes to Sainz.

The 2004 bike champion blamed a wrong turn for starting his troubles. He slipped to ninth overall, while the lead Mitsubishi is now former skiing champion Luc Alphand who is fourth after taking third yesterday.

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 lead after finishing second on yesterday’s stage. Former leader Cyril Despres has dropped to third, behind Isidre Esteve Pujol who won yesterday and moved into second.