San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina: The defending champion and the Qatari rally king Nasser bin Saleh Al Attiyah (Mini) finished fourth but currently is occupying the third slot in the overall standings at the end of the fourth stage of the gruelling Dakar Rally yesterday.
Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel kept afloat his bid for a 12th Dakar Rally crown, leading a Peugeot clean sweep in yesterday’s fourth stage around Jujuy in Argentina. Yesterday’s fourth stage of 38th Dakar covered a distance of 429 kilometres with different types of terrain and its all-time most successful competitor Peterhansel held off team-mates Carlos Sainz and World Rally legend Sebastien Loeb by 11 seconds and 27 seconds. This was the veteran Frenchman’s 66th stage win, a record tally split equally between cars and bikes.
Peterhansel made a flying start to yesterday’s stage, passing the first checkpoint more than one minute faster than Loeb and Qatari legend Nasser Al-Attiyah, who were tied on the same time at that point.
While Al-Attiyah’s Mini soon fell further adrift, Loeb fought back, getting the gap down to 39 seconds by the third checkpoint, finishing the stage having lost just 27 seconds to his team-mate to lead the event by 4 minutes and 48 seconds.
However, the rally’s top two were split by their Peugeot team-mate Carlos Sainz, who starred after losing three minutes early in the stage to outpace his fellow World Rally champion by 16 seconds.
That put Sainz second on the day.Sainz’s performance moved him up to fifth in the overall standings.
Al-Attiyah managed to prevent Peugeot’s four cars locking out the top of the order by finishing the stage fourth-fastest, nearly five minutes off the pace, edging out the 2008 DKR of Cyril Despres. The Qatari driver currently holds third overall, 11 minutes and nine seconds behind Loeb and more than one minute clear of Leeroy Poulter’s Toyota in fourth. Spain’s Joan Barreda Bort won yesterday’s 429 kilometre fourth Dakar Rally motorcycling stage around Jujuy in Argentina to place the Honda rider atop the overall standings.
Today’s fifth stage of the marathon two-week rally is a 327 kilometre ride from Jujuy to Uyuni in Bolivia.Agencies
