Dakar 2018, Stage 10: Peterhansel wins, passes Al-Attiyah
Peugeot's Stephane Peterhansel topped the 10th stage of the 2018 Dakar Rally marathon, overhauling Nasser Al-Attiyah for second place behind Carlos Sainz in the general classification.
#300 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
Peugeot Sport
Peterhansel recorded his third – and Peugeot's seventh – stage win of the event, and now has four days left to make up a 51-minute deficit to Sainz in his bid for a 14th Dakar triumph.
The Salta – Belen stage kicked off the final, Argentina-based leg of the 2018 event and featured a 373km timed special split down the middle by a neutralised zone.
Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah came through with identical times at the opening waypoint, but the Frenchman controlled the first part of the stage from then on.
He arrived at the neutralised zone with a 2m36s lead over Al-Attiyah and had already taken almost 13 minutes out of Sainz's general classification lead.
The Spaniard, who had teammate Cyril Despres shadowing him in a support role through the stage, had been embroiled in recent Dakar controversy stemming from an alleged earlier run-in with quad rider Kees Koolen.
Prior to the day's running, Sainz had incurred a penalty that took his lead below the one-hour mark.
After giving up significant ground in the opening half of the test, he was almost level with Peterhansel in the second part, preventing further time losses.
His fortunes were opposite to Al-Attiyah's, the Toyota man ending the day half an hour off stage-winning pace despite a strong start.
This has left the Qatari one hour and 13 minutes behind Sainz in the general classification, yet he remains the Japanese manufacturer's top runner.
Third overall, he leads teammates Berhnard ten Brinke and Giniel de Villiers by 10 minutes, the latter having finished runner-up to Peterhansel in the stage.
Villagra revives intrigue in truck class
Team De Rooy Iveco controlled the stage in the truck category, with Ton van Genugten leading at every waypoint en route to his second stage win of the 2018 race.
His teammate Federico Villagra was just 33 seconds off, and took over 20 minutes out of reigning champion Eduard Nikolaev's general classification lead.
The Kamaz driver, who remains 25 minutes ahead, is set to duel Villagra for victory over the four remaining stages, with Siarhei Viazovich - best of the rest behind the pair - now almost four hours adrift.
Standings after Stage 10 (Car class, top 10):
Pos. | Driver / Co-driver | Car | Time/Gap |
1 |
Carlos Sainz Lucas Cruz |
Peugeot | 32h10m53s |
2 |
Stephane Peterhansel Jean-Paul Cottret |
Peugeot | +50m35s |
3 |
Nasser Al-Attiyah Mathieu Baumel |
Toyota | +1h12m46s |
4 |
Bernhard ten Brinke Michel Perin |
Toyota | +1h22m15s |
5 |
Giniel de Villiers Dirk von Zitzewitz |
Toyota | +1h22m48s |
6 |
Jakub Przygonski Tom Colsoul |
Mini | +2h29m11s |
7 |
Khalid Al Qassimi Xavier Panseri |
Peugeot | +2h51m46s |
8 |
Martin Prokop Jan Tomanek |
Ford | +4h18m21s |
9 |
Peter van Merksteijn Maciej Marton |
Toyota | +5h33m14s |
10 |
Sebastian Halpern Edu Pulenta |
Toyota | +7h40m39s |
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