Al Attiyah takes Dakar leadas De Villiers seals stage win

NASSER Al Attiyah reclaimed the lead from Carlos Sainz in their Dakar Rally duel last night.

Al Attiyah and Sainz, who had shared the previous four stages, bowed to Giniel De Villiers of South Africa in the fifth stage between Neuquen and San Rafael over the Patagonian steppe.

De Villiers powered his Volkswagen through a swath of troublesome sand dunes to complete the 506-kilometre (314-mile) stage in 5 hours, 47 minutes, 43 seconds.

He was 2:18 ahead of German teammate Dieter Depping. US driver Robby Gordon was third in his Hummer, 4:12 back.

“This was undoubtedly the toughest stage so far,” De Villiers said.

“There was quite a bit of offroad and it was hard to find the right way.”

Sainz began the stage with a 3:46 overall lead from Al Attiyah, but made a mistake which cost him his front hood.

Sainz finished the stage ninth, but Al Attiyah was fourth in his BMW, and the Qatari grabbed the overall lead by almost two minutes on De Villiers. Sainz, Al Attiyah’s Spanish rival in the Volkswagen, dropped back to third, 6:33 behind with the race about to reach the Andes foothills later today.

Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France, lost his rear hood in a roll but finished fifth in the stage without a radiator, and was fourth overall, nearly 14 minutes off the pace. The Dakar’s most successful driver with nine titles was contemplating whether to continue.

Marc Coma of Spain continued to lead the motorbike class, but his ample lead over American Jonah Street was slashed from 43 minutes to 27 because of a flat tire.

Street won the stage in 6:41:06 after he had been trailing Chilean Francisco Lopez for most of the race. Street was nearly six minutes behind Lopez at the second checkpoint but powered through to finish 7:34 ahead of Lopez, who finished third. Dutchman Frans Verhoeven was second, 5:53 behind Street.

Meanwhile, car fires knocked out two world champions from France, Christian Lavieille and Yvan Muller.

Today’s sixth stage is 395 kms (245 miles) between San Rafael and Mendoza, the heart of Argentina’s wine region, nestled at the base of the Andes. The rally finishes on January 18 in Buenos Aires.