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Dakar Rally stage 10

January 15, 2015

Qatari driver and Mini extended their dominance of the 2015 race with only three stages to go until the finish line in Buenos Aires. But the South African leading the charge in second refused to throw in the towel.

https://p.dw.com/p/1EKhR
Rally Dakar 2015
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Mario Ruiz

Nasser Al-Attiyah won his fourth stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally on Wednesday as the Qatari driver closed in on his second title in the grueling off-road race.

It was also the ninth win in 10 days for Mini, as Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel finished 1 minute, 35 seconds ahead of home favourites Orlando Terranova and Bernardo Graue in the mammoth 859-kilometer tenth stage from Calama to Salta in Argentina.

"It wasn't an easy day and I think the last few days must've seen a lot of rain which deepened the holes on the course," said Al-Attiyah, who won an Olympic bronze medal in skeet shooting at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Dakar Rally contender Giniel de Villiers.
De Villiers believes the 2015 race is still there to be won.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Trueba

Crucially, the front-runners finished over four minutes clear of the South African-German duo of Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz (Toyota) in fifth place.

The result extends the Al-Attiyah/ Baumel lead in the standings to over 28 minutes and means the duo are well-placed for victory when the race ends in Buenos Aires on Saturday.

De Villiers, though, had other ideas.

"We won't be able to catch him [Al-Attiyah] unless he makes mistakes, but it can happen. Yesterday was a disappointment, but we still believe in our chances, you never know,” said the South African.

pwh/al (AFP, SID)