VW Race Touareg 2

The day of Sand King Peterhansel

2010 Dakar Rally, 3rd stage*

The record breaking nine-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel dominated the event’s third stage. By winning in the sand dunes with his X-Raid BMW he also took the overall lead, with Sainz (VW) following in second position.

On the 182 special-stage kilometres to Fiambalá, Argentina, the drivers had to cope with the first sand dunes of this year’s Dakar edition. After 38 kilometres of the special stage, the pairing Peterhansel/Cottret already had opened a nine-second lead over the winner of day two, Al-Attiyah in his VW Race Touareg. At kilometre 74, Peterhansel had extended his lead to 1:22 minutes and with 117 kilometres completed, the lead of the nine-time Dakar winner over his closest chasers amounted to impressive 5:42 minutes. At the end of the day, Petehansel completed the stage in 2:55:19 hours and 5:44 minutes ahead of Volkswagen’s Carlos Sainz. Thanks to this success, he also passed Sainz in the overall standings and holds a 4:33-minute lead in the 2010 Dakar Rally.

*Source: www.autobild.de - 04.01.2010 - Author: Martin Westerhoff

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