Al-Attiyah cuts into Peterhansel's lead with win
Source: Agencies |
January 10, 2013, Thursday
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NASSER Al-Attiyah won a second straight stage of the Dakar Rally and reduced Stephane Peterhansel's overall lead to five minutes in Peru on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the motorbikes got a fourth different leader after four stages when Olivier Pain, ninth in his previous two Dakars, came through the 289-kilometer stage from Nazca to Arequipa in second place to grab a 2-minute, 24-second lead over fellow Frenchman David Casteu.
Despite continuing to underplay his new buggy's capacities, Al-Attiyah has finished no worse than sixth in the stages. Guerlain Chicherit led at the first two waypoints but Al-Attiyah, the 2011 champion, edged ahead on the last third to win the stage by 36 seconds from Chicherit. Peterhansel remained steady to trail 1:17 behind in third, and keep the lead for a third straight day.
"We know that tomorrow the terrain is going to be less easy for the buggies and we will probably lose a bit of time, but since it should be better for us in Chile, I'm not worried, especially since we are out in front and not far behind Peterhansel," Al-Attiyah said.
Officials restored Peterhansel's second-stage win and lead from Sunday after losing them to Carlos Sainz, who had a complaint upheld that his GPS malfunctioned.
Further testing, however, found nothing wrong with the GPS, and officials gave back Peterhansel's record 60th stage win.
The news got worse for Sainz. Dogged by electrical problems on Monday, the 2010 winner's buggy seized up again and he lost several hours. Two others also fell out of title contention: Lucio Alvarez, who started the day third overall, broke down early, and Robby Gordon rolled his Hummer onto its roof and lost hours.
Meanwhile, the motorbikes got a fourth different leader after four stages when Olivier Pain, ninth in his previous two Dakars, came through the 289-kilometer stage from Nazca to Arequipa in second place to grab a 2-minute, 24-second lead over fellow Frenchman David Casteu.
Despite continuing to underplay his new buggy's capacities, Al-Attiyah has finished no worse than sixth in the stages. Guerlain Chicherit led at the first two waypoints but Al-Attiyah, the 2011 champion, edged ahead on the last third to win the stage by 36 seconds from Chicherit. Peterhansel remained steady to trail 1:17 behind in third, and keep the lead for a third straight day.
"We know that tomorrow the terrain is going to be less easy for the buggies and we will probably lose a bit of time, but since it should be better for us in Chile, I'm not worried, especially since we are out in front and not far behind Peterhansel," Al-Attiyah said.
Officials restored Peterhansel's second-stage win and lead from Sunday after losing them to Carlos Sainz, who had a complaint upheld that his GPS malfunctioned.
Further testing, however, found nothing wrong with the GPS, and officials gave back Peterhansel's record 60th stage win.
The news got worse for Sainz. Dogged by electrical problems on Monday, the 2010 winner's buggy seized up again and he lost several hours. Two others also fell out of title contention: Lucio Alvarez, who started the day third overall, broke down early, and Robby Gordon rolled his Hummer onto its roof and lost hours.
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