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Dakar Rally: Nasser Al-Attiyah takes control, Nani Roma fastest

Nasser Al-Attiyah tightened his grip on the 2015 Dakar Rally by extending his lead to 23 minutes on stage nine, which was won by his X-raid Mini team-mate Nani Roma

While 2014 Dakar winner Roma - whose '15 event had been ruined by an oil pump problem on the very first stage - took his first fastest time of this year's event by six minutes, second-fastest Al-Attiyah benefited from problems for his main rival Giniel de Villiers to move into a commanding overall position.

Imperial Toyota driver de Villiers blamed what he called a "terrible navigational mistake" as he lost 21 minutes to stage winner Roma and 15 to Al-Attiyah on the run from Iquique to Calama.

But de Villiers remains comfortable in second overall, helped by third-placed Yazeed Al-Rajhi running into brake problems halfway through the stage and losing a lot of time himself. He remains third overall.

Peugeot's tough Dakar return continued as its lead runner Stephane Peterhansel had to stop on the stage and wait for technical help from the team's assistance truck, dropping him from eighth to 14th overall.

LEADING STAGE NINE TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Nani Roma Monster Energy Rally Raid Team Mini/BMW 4h41m56.s
2 Nasser Al-Attiyah Qatar Rally Team Mini/BMW 6m27.s
3 Vladimir Vasilyev Vasilyev Racing Team Mini/BMW 15m52.s
4 Giniel de Villiers Toyota Imperial Team South Africa Toyota 21m58.s
5 Yazeed Al-Rajhi Yazeed Racing Toyota 27m16.s
6 Krzysztof Holowczyc Monster Energy Rally Raid Team Mini/BMW 29m30.s
7 Orlando Terranova Monster Energy Rally Raid Team Mini/BMW 30m34.s
8 Robby Gordon Speed Energy Racing HST/Chevrolet 35m59.s
9 Cyril Despres Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 45m22.s
10 Pierre Lachaume MD Rallye Sport MD/Chevrolet 45m35.s

LEADING OVERALL POSITIONS AFTER STAGE NINE:

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