Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Sainz takes first stage win of 2010

Dakar rally leader Carlos Sainz has moved another step closer to overall victory after winning Tuesday's 10th stage of the South American event

The Spaniard completed the 238-km special from La Serena to Santiago in just over three hours to claim his first stage victory of the 2010 Dakar.

Sainz finished 28 seconds ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, with American Mark Miller in third position.

It was Sainz's 16th stage victory of his Dakar career.

Sainz's closest rival and Volkswagen team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah had to settle for fourth place in the stage, losing one minute and forty seconds to the former world rally champion, who now leads the Qatari by over ten minutes with four timed specials remaining in the event.

"Today we didn't have any problems," said Sainz. "Some 80kms from the start we caught up with Nasser and we followed him because he wasn't listening to the sentinel and it was impossible to pass him.

"It was a very slow and twisty track, a road more than anything. I knew he wasn't going to let me pass but since km 80 I was on his trail of dust."

Al-Attiyah, the first man on the road today, said it has been an stressful stage for him.

"It was very, very dangerous, not easy, because there were a lot of corners, a lot of slippery stuff," he said. "For me it was not a good feeling and I'm really happy to have finished without any problems.

"I'm quite happy. For me today it was very stressful because we opened the road and it was not easy. But it's okay, I'm quite happy for today."

On a very tight special, BMW's Guerlain Chicherit was fifth fastest, just over two and a half minutes behind Sainz.

Stage 10 standings:

Pos Driver                  Car                   Gap
 1. Carlos Sainz            Volkswagen       3h01m05s
 2. Stephane Peterhansel    BMW                   28s
 3. Mark Miller             Volkswagen          1m02s
 4. Nasser Al-Attiyah       Volkswagen          1m04s
 5. Guerlain Chicherit      BMW                 2m04s
 6. Orlando Terranova       Mitsubishi          3m42s
 7. Miguel Barbosa          Mitsubishi          7m43s
 8. Guilherme Spinelli      Mitsubishi          9m26s
 9. Robby Gordon            Hummer              9m36s
10. Carlos Sousa            Mitsubishi          9m38s

Overall standings after stage 10:

Pos Driver                  Car                   Gap
 1. Carlos Sainz            Volkswagen      36h34m45s
 2. Nasser Al-Attiyah       Volkswagen         10m06s
 3. Mark Miller             Volkswagen         28m19s
 4. Stephane Peterhansel    BMW              2h14m20s
 5. Guerlain Chicherit      BMW              2h30m59s
 6. Carlos Sousa            Mitsubishi       3h54m05s
 7. Giniel de Villiers      Volkswagen       4h46m13s
 8. Guilherme Spinelli      Mitsubishi       5h25m08s
 9. Orlando Terranova       Mitsubishi       5h40m31s
10. Robby Gordon            Hummer           5h43m56s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Al-Attiyah closes in on Sainz in Dakar
Next article Superleague schedule grows for 2010

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe