Dakar: Carlos Sainz wins seventh stage, Nani Roma keeps rally lead
Carlos Sainz cruised to a comfortable win on Sunday's seventh stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally
The former World Rally champion completed the long-distance 533-kilometre test - a loop of the Argentine town of Salta - 4m45s ahead of the rest of the field in his SMG Buggy.
Despite his best efforts, Sainz is still way off in sixth overall after incurring a 60-minute penalty on Thursday and remains the best part of two hours behind current leader Nani Roma.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, who also received a one-hour punishment during the week, emerged as the best of the rest, while fellow X-raid Mini team-mates Stephane Peterhansel and Roma finished the day in third and fourth respectively.
While Roma managed to maintain his position at the top of the overall classification today, there was a change for second and third, with Peterhansel and Giniel de Villiers moving up the order after Orlando Terranova received a penalty.
The Argentinian driver had 15 minutes applied to his time following an incident with a motorcyclist during the previous stage and, as a result, has been relegated to fourth, ahead of Al-Attiyah and Sainz.
The rally continues on Monday with the competitors crossing the Andes Cordillera to begin the Chilean leg of the event.
Leading stage seven times: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Carlos Sainz SMG Buggy 4h43m28s 2. Nasser Al-Attiyah X-raid Mini +4m45s 3. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini +7m26s 4. Nani Roma X-raid Mini +8m56s 5. Krzysztof Holowczyc X-raid Mini +10m51s 6. Federico Villagra X-raid Mini +12m54s 7. Vladimir Vasilyev X-raid Mini +15m58s 8. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota +16m25s 9. Orlando Terranova X-raid Mini +18m00s 10. Bernhard Ten Brinke Ford HRX +20m04s Leading overall positions after stage seven: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Nani Roma X-raid Mini 27h03m52s 2. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini +31m53s 3. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota +48m23s 4. Orlando Terranova X-raid Mini +54m34s 5. Nasser Al-Attiyah X-raid Mini +1h18m24s 6. Carlos Sainz SMG Buggy +1h50m42s 7. Marek Dabrowski Orlen Toyota +2h30m47s 8. Krzysztof Holowczyc X-raid Mini +2h30m52s 9. Federico Villagra X-raid Mini +2h52m57s 10. Christian Lavieille H8 Haval +3h07m06s
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