Peterhansel takes pole position as desert takes toll on cars

DEFENDING champion Stephane Peterhansel moved into the overall lead of the Dakar Rally with his second stage victory on day seven.

The Mitsubishi driver beat Nasser Al Attiyah’s BMW by 25 minutes and 40 seconds across the longest special of the event between Zouerat and Tichit to knock overnight leader Bruno Saby off the top spot.

Saby damaged his Volkswagen Touareg on the course and lost nearly half an hour.

Juttah Kleinschmidt clocked the third-fastest time in his Volkswagen to move up to third overall, with Luc Alphand finishing fourth after earlier losing four minutes when he got stuck in some camel grass to end the day in fourth overall.

Many cars suffered problems on the demanding 660km stretch of desert.

Jean-Louis Schlesser lost a vital amount of time as he waited for assistance to fix the left rear wheel of his Ford, while 1997 Dakar winner Kenjiro Shinozuka retired from the rally having rolled his Nissan.

Former world rally champion and four-time Dakar winner Ari Vatanen, who lost time with transmission problems on stage six, and Volkswagen’s Robby Gordon - after crashing yesterday - resumed normal service.

Frenchman David Fretigne won the bike stage on his Yamaha as Marc Coma regained the overall lead - finishing four minutes and 31 seconds adrift yesterday.

Overnight leader Cyril Despres finished third-fastest to move down to second place in the standings, with South African Alfie Cox finishing fourth to take the same position overall.

Meanwhile, Colin McRae flew back to Britain yesterday. The Scotsman was leading the event when he crashed his Nissan heavily, ending his challenge instantly.

McRae, a former world rally champion, is suffering from blurred vision after the heavy impact - while co-driver Tina Thorner is troubled by back pain.

McRae had been on course for another stage win after leading the pack through the final checkpoint of stage six, but in the closing stages he crashed out.

“Both Colin McRae and Tina Thorner have had a check-up and both have escaped without serious injury,” a Nissan spokeswoman told www.eurosport.com.

“McRae is suffering from troubled vision and will fly back to Scotland while Tina is suffering from a bad back. They lost control of the pickup after a very heavy landing on one of the numerous jumps and were sent into a multiple roll,” she said.