Coma, Peterhansel lead the way in Dakar Rally

Jan 13, 2012, 21:44 GMT

Nasca, Peru - Defending champion Marc Coma won Friday's stage of the Dakar Rally to reclaim the motorcycle lead with just two days to go, while Stephane Peterhansel stood his ground in the car race.

The twelfth stage of the race took participants from Arequipa to Nasca, in Peru, over a course that included slippery sand dunes.

Organizers described the dunes as 'merciless for the cars,' as Frenchman Peterhansel, second-placed Nani Roma of Spain and plenty of other drivers got stuck and lost many minutes in the sandy terrain after 159 kilometres of the day's 246-kilometre timed special.

The stage was won by US driver Robby Gordon, whose Hummer was 15:18 faster than the Mini driven by Russian Leonid Novitskiy. Gordon was disqualified from the race on Tuesday for technical irregularities, but has been allowed to drive on pending appeal.

Peterhansel, who has won a record nine editions of the Dakar Rally - six on a motorbike and three in a car - struggled in the Nasca dunes but still managed to defend most of his overall lead on Roma.

The Frenchman was seventh in the stage, 26:27 behind Gordon, but only lost 02:49 to Roma. In the overall standings, Peterhansel remains 20:00 clear of his main rival, with South African Giniel de Villiers 01:06:40 away and Gordon himself in fourth place, 01:44:04 behind Peterhansel.

Among the motorbikes, Coma won the stage with a lead of 02:43 over fellow-Spaniard Joan Barreda, one of the revelations of this year's race. Coma's main rival for victory in Lima, Despres, was relegated to fourth place, and lost 03:57 to the stage winner.

In the overall standings, Coma climbed up to the top and now stands 01:35 ahead of Despres.

'It's no way near over, because there's another big stage tomorrow,' Coma said, in comments posted on the race website.

Indeed, the tight battle the two have been immersed in throughout the race is likely to be settled Saturday, and both still have good chances of winning the Dakar Rally yet again.

'You have to go for broke on this Dakar; it's not a race where you can play the waiting game. Against Marc Coma, I'm doing battle with an excellent rider. He's quick and clever,' Despres said.

One or the other of the two KTM bikers has won every edition of the Dakar Rally since 2005. However, neither one has managed to get back-to-back titles, which Coma hopes to do this year.

On Saturday, the Dakar Rally will most likely have its last really competitive stage, between Nasca and Pisco. Of a total of 352 kilometres marked by dunes, 276 kilometres are set to be timed, and positions will probably be definitive.

On Sunday, the Dakar Rally is to go from Pisco to Lima, but there are to be only 29 timed kilometres in what is intended to be triumphant ride into the Peruvian capital.