Nasser al-Attiyah took his second victory of the 2016 Dakar in yesterday’s 11th stage of the event.
The Mini driver won from Peugeot rival Sebastien Loeb, who finished the stage being towed by Cyril Despres after his car stopped right at the end.
Rally leader Stephane Peterhansel finished in fourth, taking another step towards overall victory on Saturday.
Today’s 431-km special ran from La Rioja to San Juan, as the Dakar contingent continued moving south toward Rosario, where the event will finish on Saturday.
Loeb and Peterhansel were evenly matched for most of the stage, with the nine-time WRC champion leading at the first four waypoints before al-Attiyah went quickest at WP5.
The Qatari continued to lead when cars reached the first control point of the day, outpacing Peterhansel by nine seconds and Loeb by 14.
By the fourth and final control point, al-Attiyah extended his advantage over Loeb to 1m38s and over Peterhansel by nearly five.
But Loeb’s challenge for stage victory took a hit near the end, when the Frenchman’s Peugeot stopped after the final waypoint, less than 2km from the finish line.
Loeb’s car had to be towed to the finish by teammate Despres.
Luckily for the former, both Despres and the finish were nearby and he still ended up provisionally quickest until Al-Attiyah reached the end of the stage.
The reigning champion won with a time of 4h49m16s, beating Loeb by 5m52s and Mikko Hirvonen by 7m01s.
Peterhansel lost 8m05s to al-Attiyah but still holds a healthy 52-minute lead with two stages remaining.