Peterhansel leads Peugeot Dakar Rally sweep
SAN SALVADOR DE JUJUY, ARGENTINA — Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel led a Peugeot sweep of the top-three finishing spots on the third stage of the Dakar Rally on Wednesday with teammate Sebastien Loeb narrowly retaining the overall lead.
Peterhansel, 51, seeking a 13th career triumph in the grueling 9,000- km. endurance event, finished the San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy stage in Argentina in 4 hrs. 18 mins. 17 secs.
Carlos Sainz, the 2010 champion, was second, coming home 1 min. 54 secs. behind the Frenchman Peterhansel. Third was ninetime world rally champion Loeb at 3 mins. 8 secs. off the lead.
Loeb stays in the overall lead with a paper- thin 0.42- sec. advantage over Sainz and a 4.18 secs. gap on Peterhansel.
“It’s a really good day for Peugeot. We’ve lost, not completely but probably, two rivals in Nasser Al Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers, so it’s a little bit clearer at the front of the race,” said Peterhansel, who had struggled in the first two stages, finishing seventh and 12th.
Wednesday’s stage was split into two sections with the second part over a 124-km. timed run seeing the competitors race at altitude hitting 5,000 m. for the first time in the 2017 event.
However, it was a test too far for Toyota, who are seen as Peugeot’s major rivals for the title.
Longtime stage leader Nasser Al Attiyah of Qatar, the 2011 and 2015 champion who was just 28 seconds behind Loeb overnight, came to a halt for over an hour when he damaged a wheel on his vehicle.
Toyota teammates Giniel de Villiers, the 2005 winner, and 2004 champion Nani Roma also hit technical trouble on the exhausting climb.
Roma eventually finished in eighth spot, 13 mins. 16 secs. behind Peterhansel, De Villiers was 18th at 36 mins. 23 secs. and Al Attiyah down in 28th spot at a massive 2 hrs. 17 mins. 38 secs. off the pace.
In the overall standings, Roma is fifth ( 13 mins. 4 secs. off the lead), De Villiers is 11th (35 mins. 20 secs.) while Al Attiyah is 25th (2 hrs. 14 mins. 58 secs.).
Spain’s Joan Barreda won the third stage of the motorcycle event by more than 10 minutes to take the overall lead.
The Honda rider dominated the 780- km. ( 364- km. timed) stage in 4 hrs. 22 mins. 41 secs.
Overnight leader and defending champion Toby Price of Australia was close to 23 minutes off the pace on his KTM.
“I was lucky and I did a good job. It was a really tough stage but I kept my focus during all the stage, so I am really happy with the work,” said Barreda.
“It’s still too early to talk about winning. There are still seven thousand kilometers to go.”
Britain’s Sam Sunderland is second overall at 11 mins. 20 secs. behind Barreda while Paulo Goncalves of Portugal holds third spot at 14 mins. 42 secs.
Thursday’s fourth stage, over 521 kms. from San Salvador de Jujuy to Tupiza in Bolivia will be raced to altitudes of around 3,500 m. —