Fourth victory for Sainz

After an introduction yesterday in the first dunes of the rally, the competitors set off this morning in a longer and tougher stage. On the program, 456 km of special between Iquique and Arica, the last town before the Peruvian border. Dunes as far as the eye can see, areas of fesh-fesh, scorching temperatures... Conditions that Stéphane Peterhansel likes and which allow him to make the difference. This was the scenario of the day.

Credited with the best time at the halfway point with a potential gain of 1'15 over Carlos Sainz, the Frenchman was the victim like yesterday of a small navigation error, then of several punctures on his BMW X3 CC. “It really didn’t go well,” he whispered upon arrival. “At a dune crossing, we did not find a Way-Point. We had to go back and lost four to five minutes. Then, it was a series of punctures. We had flat tires four times. But as we only had three spare wheels, we had to stop regularly to re-inflate the last wheel. The bill is a little heavy today. This is the bad mark before the break. »

The Frenchman finished 5th in the stage with a delay on Sainz of 12'25" which caused him to slip back to 3rd overall behind Nasser Al-Attiyah. Qatar ranks 2nd in Arica, conceding only nine seconds on his teammate and rival Carlos Sainz: “At first, I managed to pass Stéphane who was stopped on the side. Then he regained the advantage before stopping again. From there, I really attacked until the finish. I didn't enjoy this stage because I had to take too many risks. I have a bit of a headache there. Tomorrow, we will be able to rest before resuming the battle with Carlos. »

On the eve of the well-deserved rest day, the Spaniard therefore retains the lead of the rally and has a lead of 2'42" over Al-Attiyah and 14'51" over Peterhansel. “Everything went well today” confirmed the leader. “We caught up with Peter and Nasser, who were riding together. Then I saw Peterhansel stop. I was in Nasser's dust. Very close. I had a puncture and lost a few minutes... These are not stages that I like. They are difficult and dangerous. »

After a day of rest on Saturday, the race will resume on Sunday with the longest stage of the event: 819 km including 611 of special in dunes and on fast tracks.