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Dakar Rally: Sainz wins 13th stage
Carlos Sainz of Spain won the 13th stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday as the race entered its final stretches in Senegal.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: March 22, 2007 06:37 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Dakar:
Carlos Sainz of Spain won the 13th stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday as the race entered its final stretches in Senegal. The Volkswagen driver finished the 260 km route from Kayes in Mali to Tambacounda in Senegal in two hours, 30 minutes and 22 seconds. Mitsubishi driver Stephane Peterhansel, the overall leader, was 26 seconds behind in second place. In the bikes section, overall leader Marc Coma crashed out of the Rally, handing fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres the stage win. Early lead Sainz dominated proceedings to claim his fourth stage win. The Spaniard in his Volkswagen completed the distance in two hours, 30 minutes and 22 seconds. That times was 26 seconds faster than his nearest challenger, Stephane Peterhansel in his Mitsubishi. But Sainz remains ninth in the overall standings, with Peterhansel retaining the overall lead with a total time of 43 hours, 13 minutes and 22 seconds. Mark Miller of the US came third in his Volkswagen in a time of 2:32:40, while Portugal's Carlos Sousa was fourth, also driving a VW. Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany did not do so well on Friday in her BMW but still stands in 15th place overall. Luck factor In the motorbikes however, 13 proved to be unlucky for long-time leader Marc Coma. The seemingly invincible Spaniard was doing brilliantly as usual - but then crashed his KTM 52 kilometres into the stage. He suffered a head injury but retained consciousness and was able to talk to his team before being transported to Dakar for further tests. Coma's misfortune was to the benefit of Cyril Despres. The Frenchman went on to take the stage win on his KTM in a time of three hours and 56 seconds, which was six minutes faster than second placed American Chris Blais, also riding a KTM. Frenchman Thierry Bethys was third on his Honda in 3:12:39. Friday's result means Despres tops the overall standings now ahead of compatriot David Casteu.Topics mentioned in this article
Formula 1
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