Al-attiyah bounces back to claim stage victory in Dakar Rally

COPIAPO (Chile): Defending champion Nasser al-attiyah’s (pic) rollercoaster Dakar Rally took another twist on Saturday when he clinched the seventh stage, two days after a broken radiator dealt a potential hammer blow to his hopes.

The Qatari took his Hummer to a second stage win on this year’s gruelling event, crossing the line 7:30 ahead of American team–mate Robby Gordon.

Al-attiyah had lost 20 minutes on Thursday when the spare wheel on his vehicle came loose, damaged the radiator and caused the engine to overheat.

On the first stage, al-attiyah had lost almost 10 minutes because of mechanical trouble before bouncing back to claim the second stage.

Overall leader Stephane Peterhansel, a six–time winner in the motorcycle section and a triple champion on four wheels, finished third on Saturday in his Mini, 7:53 off the lead.

Fellow Mini driver Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland was fourth, 14:57 behind al-attiyah which allowed Peterhansel to extend his overall lead to 11:22.

“The car worked perfectly well today and we attacked from the beginning to the end of the STAGE,” said the Qatari, who began the day down in eighth place overall and more than 50 minutes behind Peterhansel.

“We took a lot of risk to set the best time. Our objective is to claw back seven or eight minutes every day. And today we did it perfectly. Wewill do our best to repeat this performance in all stages from Monday onwards, or even try to do better.

“At any rate, we have no other choice if we still want to win the Dakar.”

Spain’s Marc Coma, riding a KTM, won the seventh stage of the motorcycle event ahead of French team– mate Cyril Despres, who held onto the overall lead.

Coma covered the course in and around Copiapo in 3’51:35, 2:03 ahead of Despres. – AFP