Dakar: de Villiers grabs maiden win
South African Giniel de Villiers consolidated himself in third place of the Dakar rally after scoring his maiden stage win on Wednesday
The Volkswagen driver, who led the rally for one day after the sixth special, captured his first partial win after beating teammate Bruno Saby by over five and a half minutes in a stage which took competitors to Bamako, Mali, through 705 km of forests and savannas.
It was Volkswagen's fifth stage win of this year's Dakar.
Third in today's stage was Frenchman Luc Alphand, who reduced the gap to rally leader Stephane Peterhansel, the Mitsubishi driver finishing in 11th place today, over 20 minutes behind de Villiers.
Peterhansel's lead, however, is still a healthy 25 minutes over Alphand.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, winner of yesterday's stage, has moved into the top ten in the overall standings after finishing fourth in the stage, ahead of the BMW of Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit.
Former Dakar champion Jutta Kleinschmidt, meanwhile, lost all chances of a strong finish in this year's edition after hitting a three and damaging the suspension of her Volkswagen Touareg.
The German was still waiting for assistance at km 12 of the day's special when de Villiers had crossed the finish line.
Thursday's stage from Bamako to Labe in Mali will cover a total of 872 kms with a 307 km special.
The rally finishes on Sunday.
Stage 11 standings:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Volkswagen 3:07:01 2. Bruno Saby (France) Volkswagen 3:12:34 3. Luc Alphand (France) Mitsubishi 3:13:04 4. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Volkswagen 3:15:34 5. Guerlain Chicherit (France) BMW 3:16:50 6. Carlos Sousa (Portugal) Nissan 3:18:20 7. Alfie Cox (South Africa) BMW 3:19:37 8. Eric Vigouroux (France) Chevrolet 3:22:14 9. Mark Miller (United States) Volkswagen 3:25:03 10. Jean-Louis Schlesser (France) Schlesser-Ford 3:25:27
Overal standings after stage 11:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Stephane Peterhansel (France) Mitsubishi 41:37:57 2. Luc Alphand (France) Mitsubishi 42:03:06 3. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Volkswagen 42:20:16 4. Nani Roma (Spain) Mitsubishi 43:15:48 5. Mark Miller (United States) Volkswagen 44:56:03 6. Jean-Louis Schlesser (France) Schlesser-Ford 45:35:51 7. Carlos Sousa (Portugal) Nissan 46:43:14 8. Bruno Saby (France) Volkswagen 49:58:02 9. Guerlain Chicherit (France) BMW 50:07:20 10. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Volkswagen 51:39:21
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