DAKAR 2013: Al-Attiyah wins 4th stage, cuts Peterhansel’s overall lead

Nasser Al-Attiyah reduced Stephane Peterhansel’s Dakar Rally lead to just over five minutes by being the fastest on the event’s fourth stage on Tuesday.

The Qatari driver started the day second overall in his Red Bull buggy, 6 minutes and 33 seconds behind Peterhansel’s X-Raid Mini Countryman, but looked as a contender for the win all throughout the 179 miles (288 km) Nazca-Arequipa stage in Peru.

Al-Attiyah pushed hard at the end of the day and managed to win his second stage so far in the 2013 Dakar Rally. He was 36 seconds ahead Guerlain Chicherit’s Astana buggy. Overall leader Stephane Peterhansel was third fastest, 1 minute and 17 seconds slower than Al-Attiyah. The Frenchman’s lead in the overall standings has now been reduced to 5 minutes and 16 seconds.

Former Dakar Rally leader Carlos Sainz lost yet more time on Tuesday, with his Red Bull buggy stopping several times, just like on Monday. Another driver to have problems was Lucio Alvarez, who stopped for a long period, allowing fellow Overdrive Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers and X-Raid duo Leonid Novitskiy and Nani Roma to move into third, fourth and fifth respectively. Alvarez had been third overall before this stage.

Robby Gordon rolled his Hummer less than 20 miles after the start of the timed section and saw his chances of a good result disappear.

Top 10 overall standings after stage four:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini 9h04m29s
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah Red Bull Buggy + 5m16s
3. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota + 33m22s
4. Leonid Novitskiy X-raid Mini + 33m48s
5. Nani Roma X-raid Mini + 39m06s
6. Guerlain Chicherit SMG Buggy + 42m32s
7. Ronan Chabot SMG Buggy + 59m30s
8. Bernard Errandonea SMG Buggy + 1h04m54s
9. Boris Gadasin G-Force Nissan + 1h22m07s
10. Pascal Thomasse MD Buggy + 1h23m56s

Stage four top 10 times:

1. Nasser Al-Attiyah Red Bull Buggy 3h28m46s
2. Guerlain Chicherit SMG Buggy + 36s
3. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini + 1m17s
4. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota + 4m17s
5. Nani Roma X-raid Mini + 7m27s
6. Leonid Novitskiy X-raid Mini + 13m55s
7. Nunzio Coffaro Azimut Toyota + 20m45s
8. Ronan Chabot SMG Buggy + 21m07s
9. Pascal Thomasse MD Buggy + 24m37s
10. Bernard Errandonea SMG Buggy + 27m39s