De Villiers takes Dakar lead

The stage, originally scheduled to cover 542 kms on Mauritanian soil, had to be shortened by 134 kms after a strong sandstorm hit the final part of the special.

The helicopters were unable to flight in those conditions and so organisers decided to cut the day short on safety grounds.

De Villiers, last year's runner-up, continued with his trouble-free rally and today clinched his second stage victory of 2007 and the fifth for the Volkswagen team.

The South African driver finished two minutes and 46 seconds ahead of Mitsubishi's Stefan Peterhansel and nearly five in front of teammate Carlos Sainz, who has now relinquished the lead of the event.

The Spaniard is still very much in contention, however, as he lies less than two minutes behind de Villiers in second.

Japanese veteran Hiroshi Masuoka finished today's stage in fourth place, ahead of reining champion Luc Alphand, both men driving Mitsubishis.

Their teammate Nani Roma, who yesterday hit trouble and lost over 18 minutes, had another tough day, rolling and damaging his car. The Spaniard, winner in the bikes category in 2004, lost a considerable amount of time.

Portuguese Carlos Sousa, in third place until today's special, also endured a difficult day when he got stuck in a sand dune for several minutes.

Volkswagen's Sousa, angry at his co-driver Andreas Schulz according to organisers, left the place without him, leaving the German looking for his driver for 45 minutes.

Ari Vatanen's hopes of making it to the end of the rally seem to be over, as his Volkswagen was seen in flames on km 344. Both him and his co-driver were uninjured.

Following the decision to cut the stage short, the competitors will drive on tarmac up to Atar, location of tomorrow's rest day.

Stage 7 classification:

Pos Driver          Make              Time
 1. De Villiers     Volkswagen     4h00:46
 2. Peterhansel     Mitsubishi     +  2:46
 3. Sainz           Volkswagen     +  4:50
 4. Masuoka         Mitsubishi     + 10:18
 5. Al Attiyah      BMW            + 11:44
 6. Alphand         Mitsubishi     + 13:09
 7. Holowczyc       Nissan         + 37:21
 8. Errandonea      Buggy          + 38:45
 9. Schlesser       Schlesser-Ford + 46:30
10. Thomasse        Buggy          + 49:34

Overall standings after stage 7:

Pos Driver           Make                 Time
 1. De Villiers      Volkswagen       20h04:01
 2. Sainz            Volkswagen      +    1:39
 3. Peterhansel      Mitsubishi      +   24:38
 4. Alphand          Mitsubishi      +   33:53
 5. Masuoka          Mitsubishi      + 1h11:30
 6. Schlesser        Schlesser-Ford  + 1h12:09
 7. Al Attiyah       BMW             + 1h32:05
 8. Miller           Volkswagen      + 1h50:39
 9. Sousa            Volkswagen      + 2h38:26