Buenos Aires : Carlos Sainz won the 12th stage of the Dakar Rally by 52 seconds over Nasser Al Attiyah, boosting his lead to more than five minutes against his Volkswagen teammate and main rival on Thursday.
Sainz completed the 476-kilometre stage in west central Argentina from San Juan south to San Rafael in 3 hours, 30 minutes, 29 seconds. The Spaniard led Qatar's Al Attiyah by 5:20 overall.
In motorbikes, Chile's Francisco Lopez Contardo won the stage on an Aprilia, his third this year.
David Fretigne of France was second on a Yamaha, 40 seconds behind, and Pal Anders Ullevalseter of Norway was third on his KTM, 1:13 back.
France's Cyril Despres finished a cautious eighth, more than 17 minutes off the pace, but kept his whopping overall lead and seems certain of victory when the rally ends today in Buenos Aires. Despres leads Lopez by 1:03:42 in the overall.
"It was a bit quick, not dangerous but tricky," Sainz said. "I didn't have any problems. Everything's fine."
He was fastest from the start, and led Al Attiyah by more than four minutes at one point. But the Qatari had a spectacular last section on the sand to limit Sainz's stage win to less than a minute.
Sainz and Al Attiyah, both chasing their first Dakar win, were confident going into yesterday's pen-ultimate stage.
Rallying: 12th stage 796km (476km special) run from San Juan to San Rafael:
Auto 12th stage
1. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/Volkswagen) 3hr 30min 29sec, 2. Nasser Al Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (QAT/GER/Volkswagen) at 0:52, 3. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/RSA/Volkswagen) 4:22, 4. Stiphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA/BMW) 10:49, 5. Robby Gordon/Andy Grider (USA/Hummer) 10:56.
Overall: 1. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/Volkswagen) 42hr 47min 24sec, 2. Nasser Al Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (QAT/GER/Volkswagen) 5:20, 3. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/RSA/Volkswagen) 28:12, 4. Stiphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA/BMW) 2 h 20:42, 5. Guerlain Chicherit/Tina Thoerner (FRA/SWE/BMW) 4 h 02:50,.
