De Villiers wins as Sainz takes lead
South African Giniel de Villiers has scored Volkswagen's third consecutive stage victory in the 2007 Dakar rally as the event reached African territory
The 252-km special from Nador to El Rachidia in Morocco was the first contact with the conditions the drivers will find over the next two weeks following Portugal's two, rally-like, openings stages.
De Villiers, last year's runner-up, completed today's stage in two hours and 46 minutes to give Volkswagen their third consecutive win in this year's event.
De Villiers finished 25 seconds ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard moving into the overall lead following his stage victory on Sunday.
Sainz leads the rally from de Villiers and teammate Carlos Sousa, the previous leader who today finished in sixth position and dropped to third in the standings.
Eight-time Dakar winner Stefan Peterhansel was Mitsubishi's quickest driver today, the Frenchman finishing the stage behind de Villiers and Sainz and ahead of teammate Luc Alphand, the reining champion.
Peterhansel is also the leading Mitsubishi in the standings in fourth, with American Mark Miller following in fifth, ahead of the Mitsubishi trio of Hiroshi Masuoka, Nani Roma and Alphand.
Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit is the first of the BMW drivers in the standings in ninth position. His teammate Jutta Kleinschmidt has dropped to 22nd after her car caught fire 20 kms into the stage, losing over 28 minutes to de Villiers.
The rally will stay in Morocco tomorrow for a 679-km stage, with a 405-km special among the dunes.
Stage 3 classification:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. de Villiers Volkswagen 2h46.12 2. Sainz Volkswagen + 0.25 3. Peterhansel Mitsubishi + 3.18 4. Alphand Mitsubishi + 3.42 5. Miller Volkswagen + 3.55 6. Sousa Volkswagen + 5.36 7. Masuoka Mitsubishi + 5.40 8. Roma Mitsubishi + 9.18 9. Chicherit BMW + 9.20 10. Al Attiyah BMW + 12:16
Overall standings after stage 3:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Sainz Volkswagen 5h09.19 2. de Villiers Volkswagen + 1.02 3. Sousa Volkswagen + 4.26 4. Peterhansel Mitsubishi + 6.03 5. Miller Volkswagen + 9.12 6. Masuoka Mitsubishi + 11.17 7. Roma Mitsubishi + 11.37 8. Alphand Mitsubishi + 11.59 9. Chicherit BMW + 12.59 10. Al Attiyah BMW + 22.39
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