Sainz still leads but gives time to Al Attiyah
The Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah (Volkswagen) won the ninth stage of Dakar, between Copiapo and La Serena, and she took 5 minutes and 59 seconds at the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen), second, that maintains the overall lead.
Third was South African Giniel de Villiers (Volkswagen), fourth Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (BMW) and fifth American Mark Miller (Volkswagen).
Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (BMW), winner of Sunday’s stage was sixth to more than 17 minutes from Al Attiyah, after his car beached in the sand.
With these results we close the top of the standings, where Sainz continues as leader, although his lead over Al Attiyah, second, is reduced to 8 minutes and 36 seconds.
Miller completes Volkswagen triplet
Miller is hardly his two teammates and is third at 27 minutes and 17 seconds of Qatar.
Next up is a huge difference, more than two hours, with BMW in fourth place behind Peterhansel and Chicherit, who is fifth.
De Villiers, the defending champion, still further, to more than four hours, and is sixth.
The participants walked 170 kilometers of sand dunes on a path in a loop in the vicinity of the town of Copiapo.
Coma continues to face
In the motorcycle section, Marc Coma (KTM) won ahead of Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM) and the Chilean Francisco ‘Vest’ Lopez (Aprilia) was third.
Catalan ran the 170 competitive kilometers in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 30 seconds, four seconds faster than Despres, outstanding leader of the leaderboard.
‘Vest’ Lopez, winner of Sunday’s stage, followed with a good race pace and scored one minute 14 seconds more than Coma.
Fourth was the Norwegian Pal Ullevalseter (KTM) and fifth Frenchman Alain Duclos (KTM).
The day did not have too much impact on the overall rankings table, where Despres is on top with a commanding lead of one hour, 21 minutes and 50 seconds over Ullevalseter.
Fight for second place
In the fight for second place is also ‘Vest’ Lopez, who is third at 3 minutes and 41 seconds of the Norwegian, and Portuguese Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) fourth to almost seven minutes Ullevalseter.
Unlike other days, the drivers started the race in groups of twenty, to face a demanding track in a loop through the dunes surrounding the town of Copiapo.
Initially the envisaged special 338 kilometers, although the forecast of fog caused the organizers of the rally trimmed the stage before the second checkpoint, so that participants will travel more than 400km liaison to La Serena.
On Tuesday, in the tenth stage between La Serena and Santiago, the Dakar temporarily lay off the sand and dunes to focus on gravel roads winding through hills.
They will be 586 km, of which 238 are timed to arrive at the door of the Chilean capital.