Al-Attiyah cuts Sainz’s Dakar lead
The Qatari driver won the 273 kilometer special leg from Arica by one minute and 20 seconds for the 10th stage victory of his Dakar career as the grueling endurance race resumed after a rest day.
Al-Attiyah, who finished runner-up to his Volkswagen teammate last year following an ill-tempered final few stages, is now just 1:22 behind the 48-year-old three-time world rally champion.
"From now on, I really have to attack," he told the race's official website after negotiating vast tracts of sand dunes. "In order to avoid flat tires, we have to avoid sliding sideways too much.
"Last year, I had six flat tires. This year, I really focused on my driving to avoid flats and stay on course as much as possible."
South Africa's Giniel de Villiers was third in another Volkswagen to be 2:56 behind Sainz, while nine-time bike and car champion Stephane Peterhansel of France was fourth for BMW after suffering tire problems.
In the bike category, Chile's Francisco Lopez won his first stage as he came home with a 2:21 advantage but still remained third overall.
The Aprilia rider is more than 18 minutes behind Spain's Marc Coma, with defending champion Cyril Depres second on another KTM machine.
Depres finished second on Sunday, just ahead of Coma.
"It was not easy. There was a lot of dust in the beginning. I went a little faster afterwards but I lost my exhaust at mid-stage more or less," Lopez said.
"So after that, I was afraid my engine would break. Fortunately, it was the shortest special stage since the beginning of the raid. If it had not been, the engine would have been hit bad."
On Monday, the competitors continue to head south down the Chilean coast to Copiapo.
Stage seven results:
|
Pos |
Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
| 1. | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Volkswagen | 2h40m57s |
| 2. | Carlos Sainz | Volkswagen | +1m20s |
| 3. | Giniel de Villiers | Volkswagen | +2m56s |
| 4. | Stephane Peterhansel | BMW | +7m40s |
| 5. | Krzysztof Holowczyc | BMW | +17m00s |
| 6. | Christian Lavieille | Nissan | +20m07s |
| 7. | Ricardo Leal dos Santos | BMW | +20m48s |
| 8. | Guilherme Spinelli | Mitsubishi | +22m14s |
| 9. | Nani Roma | Nissan | +24m39s |
| 10. | Tonnie van Deijne | Mitsubishi | +35m10s |
Overall standings:
|
Pos |
Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
| 1. | Carlos Sainz | Volkswagen | 23h21m58s |
| 2. | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Volkswagen | +1m22s |
| 3. | Stephane Peterhansel | BMW | +21m11s |
| 4. | Giniel de Villiers | Volkswagen | +32m45s |
| 5. | Krzysztof Holowczyc | BMW | +1h28m59s |
| 6. | Mark Miller | Volkswagen | +2h13m44s |
| 7. | Guilherme Spinelli | Mitsubishi | +2h38m50s |
| 8. | Christian Lavieille | Nissan | +3h26m41s |
| 9. | Ricardo Leal dos Santos | BMW | +3h30m40s |
| 10. | Matthias Kahle | SMG | +5h45m10s |