Stephane Peterhansel extended his overall lead in the Dakar Rally by finishing one second behind fourth-stage winner Robby Gordon of the US entering the Atacama Desert on Tuesday.
Peterhansel, the Frenchman who has won the Dakar nine times, looked set to post a record 53rd stage victory, but Gordon finally found sandy terrain suitable for his Hummer and came from nowhere at the end of the 203km special to edge the rally leader.
Gordon finished in 1 hour, 40.21 minutes, followed by Peterhansel, then Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar 2 minutes, 26 seconds behind.
PHOTO: AFP
Peterhansel in his BMW improved to more than seven and a half minutes ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Volkswagen in the overall standings, and nearly 10 minutes ahead of Al-Attiyah — also in a Volkswagen.
In the bikes category, defending champion Marc Coma of Spain began to make up for losing 40 minutes in earlier stages by winning on his KTM, 2 minutes, 4 seconds ahead of David Casteu of France on a Sherco, and 3 minutes, 14 seconds ahead of overall leader Cyril Despres on a KTM.
Overall, Despres was 8 minutes, 53 seconds ahead of countryman Casteu, the only rider within 20 minutes of Despres. Coma jumped three places to sixth, 38 minutes, 50 seconds behind.
The racers passed over the Andes at about 4,000m and began on a gravelly descent on the Chilean side and into dunes in the Atacama, one of the driest places on Earth.
“Today was a fast stage with fast off-road sections, which means you have to keep your eyes on danger,” Peterhansel said. “It was tough. We had to watch out. When you have designed a car — all year long — you do hope it performs and delivers in technology, in the sand dunes, everywhere, but nothing is ever certain.”
Gordon and his Hummer were in their element, much better than on Monday when he lost an hour with engine problems. With his third ever stage win on the Dakar, the NASCAR driver rose from 11th to eighth overall, 1 hour, 4 minutes behind Peterhansel.
“Today’s special stage was perfect for us with a lot of camel grass,” Gordon said. “It’s on this type of terrain that the Hummer is doing great. A stage victory means nothing to us. It’s the final victory we are in for ... I am sure that today we managed to climb up in the standings and we will see how Chile will treat us. We should be good in the sand dunes.”
Despres, looking for his third victory in five years, also hopes to take advantage of the next five stages in the desert, the toughest part of the rally.
“We finally hit a terrain that is better for our KTM bikes,” Despres said. “It’s nice to have the wind in the face and to pick up speed. Navigation was fun, too, with the first changes in course — which were pretty tricky — and the first small dunes, the first camel grass, the desert.”
The fifth leg goes from Copiapo due north through the Atacama to the port city of Antofagasta for 483km, the second longest stage.
The rally wraps up its 9,000km journey on Jan. 16 in Buenos Aires.
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