Al Attiyah gets Dakar boot

QATAR’S Nasser Al Attiyah was thrown out of the Dakar Rally, which he was leading, last night after missing a control point on the sixth stage, race organisers said.

Al Attiyah had consolidated his Qatar Rally lead last night on the stage but was stripped of his victory and thrown out after he missed a control point.

The BMW driver went into the sixth stage, a shortened 178km run from San Rafael, with a 2min 24sec lead over South African Volkswagen driver Giniel De Villiers.