Dakar: Alphand wins and takes lead
Luc Alphand has taken a crucial victory in today's 12th stage of the Dakar as Mitsubishi teammate Stephane Peterhansel hit trouble and lost the lead of the event to his compatriot
Alphand, the 1997 overall alpine skiing World Cup winner, won today's special from Bamako to Labe as the rally left Mali and entered Guinea.
Alphand finished ahead of BMW's Guerlain Chicherit and Volkswagen's Giniel de Villiers, the winner of yesterday's stage.
It was Alphand's first win of this year's Dakar, but crucially has allowed him to move to the top of the standings after Peterhansel lost a lot of time when he hit a tree and damaged his car some 90 kms from the end.
The Frenchman and his co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret worked on the Pajero for several minutes before they could get going again with a two-wheel drive machine, but they were forced to stop again around 70 kms from the finish line.
At the time of writing, Peterhansel had not yet made it to the end of the stage.
The rally finishes on Sunday, although there are only three proper stages left.
Alphand now leads de Villiers by 20 minutes. Spain's Nani Roma, sixth today, has moved into third place overall.
The Dakar travels from Labe to Tambacounda tomorrow, in a 348 km stage that will be the high point of the event, with the cars having to go through 1,000 m mountains.
Stage 12 standings:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Luc Alphand (France) Mitsubishi 4:22:46 2. Guerlain Chicherit (France) BMW 4:23:42 3. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Volkswagen 4:26:07 4. Bruno Saby (France) Volkswagen 4:27:18 5. Mark Miller (United States) Volkswagen 4:29:42 6. Nani Roma (Spain) Mitsubishi 4:30:50 7. Eric Vigouroux (France) Chevrolet 4:31:04 8. Thierry Magnaldi (France) Schlesser-Ford 4:31:17 9. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Volkswagen 4:33:34 10. Jean-Louis Schlesser (France) Schlesser-Ford 4:34:54
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Luc Alphand (France) Mitsubishi 46:25:52 2. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Volkswagen 46:46:23 3. Nani Roma (Spain) Mitsubishi 47:46:38 4. Stephane Peterhansel (France) Mitsubishi 49:16:57 5. Mark Miller (United States) Volkswagen 49:25:45 6. Jean-Louis Schlesser (France) Schlesser-Ford 50:10:45 7. Carlos Sousa (Portugal) Nissan 51:30:58 8. Bruno Saby (France) Volkswagen 54:25:20 9. Guerlain Chicherit (France) BMW 54:31:02 10. Thierry Magnaldi (France) Schlesser-Ford 54:38:17 11. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Volkswagen 56:12:55 12. Stephane Henrard (Belgium) Volkswagen 59:07:50 13. Philippe Gache (France) Buggy 59:24:55 14. Maris Saukans (Latvia) OSC 59:26:24 15. Jean-Francois Guinot (France) Volkswagen 60:08:17 16. Josep-Maria Servia (Spain) Schlesser-Ford 62:04:12 17. Jean-Jacques Ratet (France) Toyota 63:32:03 18. Bob ten Harkel (Netherlands) Bowler 64:33:52 19. Erik Ivar Tollefsen (Norway) Bowler 64:36:37 20. Alfie Cox (South Africa) BMW 64:55:37
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