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Dakar Cars, Stage 9: Sainz wins to take overall lead

Peugeot driver Carlos Sainz moved into the lead of the Dakar Rally after taking victory in a shortened Stage 9 on Tuesday.

#303 Peugeot: Carlos Sainz, Lucas Cruz

#303 Peugeot: Carlos Sainz, Lucas Cruz

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#314 Peugeot: Sèbastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#301 Toyota: Giniel de Villiers, Dirk Von Zitzewitz
#300 Mini: Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel
#302 Peugeot: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
#322 Toyota: Marek Dabrowski, Jacek Czachor
#300 Mini: Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel
#321 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera
#321 Peugeot: Cyril Despres, David Castera
#347 Suzuki: Tim Coronel
#347 Suzuki: Tim Coronel

The stage, one of the shortest of the rally, started and ended in Belen, with the original plan including a total of 285km timed and 111km in connections.

However, due to the extreme heat, organisers decided to stop the running at the fourth waypoint.

"Today's stage was expected to be difficult given the profile of the special," organisers said. "The dunes around Fiambala and the hot temperatures promised a tricky day for the competitors.

"These concerns soon proved to be true and, in light of the high number of competitors already in difficulty, in particular in the bike category, the race management have taken a logical decision.

"In order to guarantee maximum safety to the entire field, the race will finish at CP2."

Nasser Al-Attiyah hit the front at the first control point, outpacing Toyota's Leeroy Poulter by 11 seconds and Mikko Hirvonen by 27 as leader Stephane Peterhansel finished nearly two minutes behind and Sainz lost over three to the Qatari.

By Waypoint 3, however, Peterhansel had lost over 11 minutes to Al-Attiyah and around seven to Sainz.

But the Spaniard, second in the standings until today, sped up towards the finish and moved into the lead, finishing with a time of 2h35m31s at the point where the stage was neutralised due to the heat.

Mini's Erik Van Loon was a surprising second, only 10 seconds slower than Sainz, with debutant Mikko Hirvonen third in another Mini, 27 seconds off the pace.

Peterhansel, slowed down by punctures, finished the day nearly nine minutes behind Sainz, who now leads the rally by seven minutes over the Frenchman.

Al-Attiyah wound up fifth, behind the Toyota of Giniel de Villiers. The reigning champion remains third in the standings, some 14 minutes off the lead.

Sebastien Loeb finished the stage down in 18th place, over an hour behind Sainz.

Standings after Stage 9:

Pos.No.Driver

Car

Time/Gap
1 303

Carlos Sainz

Lucas Cruz

Peugeot

28h39m24s
2 302 Stephane Peterhansel
Jean-Paul Cottret

Peugeot

7m03s
3 300

Nasser Al-Attiyah

Matthieu Baumel

Mini

14m38s
4 315

Mikko Hirvonen

Michel Perin

Mini

34m50s
5 301

Giniel de Villiers

Dirk von Zitzewitz

Toyota

53m18s
6 305

Yazeed Al-Rajhi

Timo Gottschalk

Toyota

1h01m48s
7 319

Leeroy Poulter

Robert Howie

Toyota

1h03m25s
8 306

Erik van Loon

Wouter Rosegaar

Mini

1h28m05s
9 304

Nani Roma

Alex Haro

Mini

1h42m55s
10 321

Cyril Despres

David Castera

Peugeot

1h51m30s

 

 

 

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