Stephane Peterhansel passed 11 cars on his way to his second stage win on the 2010 Dakar Rally in Argentina on Thursday.
Driving a BMW X3 with fellow Frenchman Jean-Paul Cottret, the nine-times former Dakar winner (three in cars and six on bikes) finished the 418-km stage from Antofagasta to Iquique in Chile 6m 47s ahead of Spain’s Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (Volkswagen Race Touareg) and 8m 55s quicker than American Mark Miller and South African Ralph Pitchford in another Race Touareg.
It was Peterhansel’s 20th Dakar stage win in a car and a record 53rd in total (cars and bikes). It improved his overall position from 10th on Wednesday (when he lost almost two hours and the rally lead with a broken propshaft) to eighth.
Three Touaregs continue to lead overall with Sainz extending his advantage over team-mates Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and Timo Gottschalk of Germany to 15m 24s. Miller and Pitchford, winners of Wednesday’s stage, remain third overall and have closed the gap to Al-Attiyah to 2m 23s.
Carlos Sousa of Portugal has moved up to fourth overall in a Mitsubishi Lancer, but is 1h 16m 16s behind Miller and Pitchford. Fifth overall is the South African-built Nissan Navara of former Polish rally champion Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland and Belgian Jean-Marc Fortin, 1h 43m 40s behind the leaders.
American Robby Gordon has dropped back to sixth overall in his Hummer, while early race leader Peterhansel in eighth is 2h 04m 02s behind Sainz.
**Article off Wheels24.co.za**