Peterhansel: “The knife between the teeth”

Started third behind the Volkswagen Race Touareg of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz, the BMW X3 CC of Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel returned to the wake of his rivals to finally overtake them. While he had widened the gap, Peterhansel again suffered a puncture at the left rear. Forced to find a suitable place to change the wheel, the Perterhansel/Cottret crew had to drive more than expected with this damage and lose precious time. Which did not prevent him from closing the gap and winning the special. “At the start, we overtook Nasser and Carlos and had a big lead,” he explained at the finish.

“We were then more than four minutes ahead of Carlos. Unfortunately, we made a small navigation error. He walked past us again and I found myself in his dust. I then hit a stone and had a rear puncture. So Nasser also returned. They both got quite a head start. I came back with a knife between my teeth and we caught up with them about twenty kilometers from the finish. I saw Carlos stuck in the sand and Nasser probably didn't ride as he would have liked. We won our first victory, but should have done it with an even bigger margin.”

Peterhansel wins by taking 1'24" from Al-Attiyah and 3'15 from Carlos Sainz who remains at the top of the general classification of the rally with 2'26" ahead of the winner of the day (now 2nd) and 2'33 over his teammate Qatar. Giniel De Villiers occupies 4th place with 21'20" behind the leading trio.