Dakar 2010
Al-Attiyah makes move on Stage 13
16 Jan 2010, 6:00 AM
France's Stephane Peterhansel of BMW won the 13th and penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally in the car category, a 725km run between San Rafael and Santa Rosa in central Argentina.
Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah, driving a Volkswagen, finished second, 1min 21sec behind Peterhansel, with overall leader Carlos Sainz of Spain finishing 3min 53sec behind the Peterhansel.
Sainz's lead over Volkswagen teammate Al-Attiyah in the general classification was subsequently cut to just 2min 48sec ahead of the final stage, which takes the drivers back into Buenos Aires.
With seemingly no team orders in the Volkswagen team, the race between Sainz and Al-Attiyah looks set to go down to the wire, possibly in controversial circumstances, as Sainz explained.
"At one point, he (Al-Attiyah) passed me and hit me and then, when he was in front of me, he started zigzagging in front of me!" the two-time World Rally champion said.
"This is not fair play at all! If I had seen him in my rearview mirror and if I had started doing the same, he would not have passed me.
"What is absolutely not normal is that a teammate would hit you. No, I don't think I have won the Dakar quite yet."
However Al-Attiyah was unrepentant as he sets his sights on his first Dakar victory.
"It was quick with some unbelievable parts," said Al-Attiyah.
"Sometimes the car was on four wheels, sometimes on three, sometimes even two. In some places the track was steeper than I have ever seen, almost vertical!
"I didn't lose much time, so it's been a good day. I feel good about tomorrow, even great."
Lucky 13 for Ullevalseter
Earlier, Norwegian Pal Ullevalseter won the 13th motorbike stage of the race.
The victory took Ullevalseter (KTM) into second place in the overall standings, leapfrogging the Chilean Francisco Lopez who finished 5min 35sec behind the Norwegian in fourth place on his Aprilia.
"A fantastic stage for me. I started third and after 40km I was in the lead," said Ullevalseter.
"Today was a route for big bikes. We could really attack and in the last hours I was riding at more than 160km/h. It's perfect!"
France's KTM rider Cyril Despres, 43sec behind Ullevalseter in second place, continues to enjoy a healthy lead of 1hr 4min at the top of the motorbikes general classification.
"There was only a small section of sandy tracks and about 20 km of sand dunes. It's always a pleasure to ride that," said Despres.
"It is much easier to stay focused when you drive a bit fast.
"I trust my KTM and my tires. I knew I would drive fast and it would be fine."
Spain's Marc Coma, another KTM rider, finished third on the day, 2min 46sec off Ullevalseter's pace.
Coma was handed a controversial time penalty of six hours for illegally changing a wheel during the seventh stage and is now 6hr 32min behind Despres in the overall standings.
Portugal's Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) remains fourth overall, with Frenchmen David Fretigne (Yamaha) and Alain Duclos (KTM) fifth and sixth respectively.