Dakar – Peterhansel escapes, Al-Attiyah falls

The 2013 Dakar saw a turning point with the ninth stage as Stéphane Peterhansel found himself the sole leader of the event. The Frenchman failed four minutes behind the winner of the day, his teammate Nani Roma, who covered the 593km timed in 5.36'28. The ten-time winner of the event can be satisfied with his day since his rival Nasser Al-Attiyah has still not crossed the finish line. The Qatar pilot Red Bull Rally Team is currently stopped on the course after apparently suffering contact with a tree. If the Qatari manages to complete the course, he will lose all hope of ranking well in any case.

Giniel de Villiers is now Stéphane Peterhansel's closest rival. Her Toyota Hilux n°301 finished almost ten minutes behind Nani Roma's scratch and the South African, who finished today behind the BMW X3 of Orlando Terranova and the Hummer of Robby Gordon, was almost 50 minutes behind on the leader of the event in the general classification. Leonid Novitskiy fails 11 minutes behind the reference time behind Carlos Sousa's Great Wall. The Russian now completes the provisional podium with just over six minutes behind Giniel de Villiers.

Despite his stage victory, Nani Roma is still more than half an hour behind the leading trio in the general classification, but his performance gives him a lead of almost half an hour over Orlando Terranova. The Argentine climbed from ninth to fifth following the rout of the SMG drivers. Ronan Chabot fell to eighth place behind his teammate Guerlain Chicherit. The winner of the eighth stage was in the lead at the halfway point before being slowed down significantly. The Frenchman is now seventh, 20 minutes behind Carlos Sousa.

The tenth stage will be lighter with a course of 632km, including 353km timed, where the crews will leave from Cordoba to reach La Rioja. The special will not offer any particular difficulties, alternating between technical and fast passages.