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Dakar: Nani Roma regains lead after win in shortened stage five

Nani Roma retook the lead of the Dakar rally after a commanding victory on stage five, on a day marked by the problems encountered by the top drivers

Roma, who had moved into the lead of the event after a dramatic stage on Tuesday, emerged on top again in what was the longest day of the rally.

The timed portion, however, was shortened due to safety reasons, and the stage ended in the first control point of the second section.

X-raid Mini driver Roma finished in four hours and 27 minutes, returning to first place in the standings after losing it to compatriot Carlos Sainz on Wednesday.

The former World Rally champion had a day to forget and lost over an hour to Roma.

Sainz made navigational errors and had electric problems in his buggy in the first section of the stage, dropping down to sixth position in the overall standings.

Roma's other main rivals also lost a lot of time on Thursday.

Nasser Al-Attiyah dropped over 21 minutes, while Stephane Peterhansel finished over 23 behind the Spaniard. Local Orlando Terranova also lost 20 minutes.

Former Dakar winner Giniel de Villers was second on the stage, 4m20s behind Roma, while American Robby Gordon completed the top three in his Hummer.

Roma now leads from Al-Attiyah, with Terranova in third, Peterhansel fourth and de Villers completing the top five.

Leading stage five times:

Pos Driver                Team/Car         Time/Gap
 1. Nani Roma             X-raid Mini        4h27m01s
 2. Giniel de Villiers    Imperial Toyota    +04m20s
 3. Robby Gordon          Hummer             +20m12s
 4. Orlando Terranova     X-raid Mini        +20m44s
 5. Nasser Al-Attiyah     X-raid Mini        +21m38s
 6. Stephane Peterhansel  X-raid Mini        +23m55s
 7. Lucio Alvarez         Ranger Ford        +25m45s
 8. Adam Malysz           Overdrive Toyota   +27m18s
 9. Darek Dabrowski       Overdrive Toyota   +29m20s
10. Erik Van Loon         XDakar Ford        +39m19s

Leading overall positions after stage five:

Pos Driver                Team/Car           Time/Gap
 1. Nani Roma             X-raid Mini        19h21m54s
 2. Nasser Al-Attiyah     X-raid Mini        +26m28s
 3. Orlando Terranova     X-raid Mini        +31m46s
 4. Stephane Peterhansel  X-raid Mini        +39m59s
 5. Giniel de Villiers    Imperial Toyota    +41m24s
 6. Carlos Sainz          SMG Buggy          +59m43s
 7. Christian Lavieille   Haval              +1h41m50s
 8. Federico Villagra     X-raid Mini        +1h42m42s
 9. Darek Dabrowski       Overdrive Toyota   +1h45m58s
10. Pascal Thomasse       MD Buggy           +2h12m10s


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