De Villiers takes stage win and lead

Sainz had gone into the 253-kilometre Fiambala to La Rioja stage 27 minutes ahead of Mark Miller, with their Volkswagen teammate de Villiers 41 minutes adrift in third.

But the former World Rally champion crashed into a ravine, with the car sliding off the course and landing on its roof.

Although the VW was still healthy enough to continue despite its damage, Sainz's co-driver Michel Perin had sustained an injury to his shoulder, so the crew had to return to the main bivouac so Perin could receive treatment, ending their Dakar Rally.

"Suddenly, a four-metre deep hole appeared in front of us," said Sainz. "We fell into it and landed on our roof. A BMW and Nani Roma were able to get around us at the last moment. The BMW team stopped and helped us to put the car back on its wheels.

"In the meantime an ASO doctor had arrived who briefly checked Michel Perin and barred him from continuing the drive on account of a shoulder injury. The Race Touareg was by and large okay, the engine was running. Of course we were lucky in this situation as well.

"I'm very disappointed and I'm very sorry for the team that we're out, but I'm hoping that our team will win in the end anyhow."

None of the crews managed to get through the stage without drama, though, with all the front-runners either getting stuck or having issues with navigation during the day.

Ultimately it was de Villiers who had the cleanest run, and he therefore won the stage by 16 minutes from Miller, giving him a two-and-a-half minute lead over the American in the outright standings with two days to go.

But despite vaulting ahead, de Villiers was frustrated at the end of the stage.

"Very hard stage. The road book is really, really bad. Really pathetic," he said. "There are big canyons, it's really dangerous, and you don't know how to find your way.

"We were turning in circles for like 15 minutes. They have to do something - you cannot drive the stage like that.

"Other than that, a very tricky stage. A lot of sand, very soft. We stopped once to deflate, and then the next time we went into a big, big canyon we could not find a pass and we had to get out to look for a pass and we found Robby (Gordon) there as well."

Miller also found the stage incredibly challenging.

"It was a horror of a stage," he said. "I can't imagine that the amateur guys can finish the stage. I would be impressed with everyone and I would like to shake their hands. It wasn't only difficult, the navigation was absolutely impossible. We went over stones the size of a car.

"It's the longest 300kms or whatever of my life. Really difficult. It was just an incredible stage. (Co-driver) Ralph (Pitchford) did a phenomenal job. We were stuck three times. I think that could be the toughest stage I've ever done."

Mitsubishi's last remaining works driver Joan 'Nani' Roma came to a halt 165kms into the stage, ending the team's already fading hopes of an eighth consecutive Dakar win, and moving Robby Gordon's Hummer up to third place.

"A decent run for us," said Gordon. "About 70 kilometres back I got stuck in a rock canyon and I burned the clutch, and I had to run first gear all the way. But I was in front of all these guys and got myself trapped.

"It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Nani now, maybe we'll find ourselves in third. It's going to be a close race, for sure."

Stage 12 results:

Pos  Driver               Car          Time
 1.  Giniel de Villiers   Volkswagen   4h06:43
 2.  Mark Miller          Volkswagen  +  16:17
 3.  Robby Gordon         Hummer      +  25:27
 4.  Dieter Depping       Volkswagen  +  42:02
 5.  Leonid Novitskiy     BMW         +  55:25
 6.  Ivar Erik Tollefsen  Nissan      +1h15:16
 7.  Krzysztof Holowczyc  Nissan      +1h33:59
 8.  Miroslav Zapletal    Mitsubishi  +1h37:23
 9.  Matthias Kahle       Honda       +2h04:12
10.  Guerlain Chicherit   BMW         +2h05:09

Overall positions:

Pos  Driver               Car          Time
 1.  Giniel de Villiers   Volkswagen   43h46:58
 2.  Mark Miller          Volkswagen  +    2:35
 3.  Robby Gordon         Hummer      + 1h18:52
 4.  Ivar Erik Tollefsen  Nissan      + 5h48:21
 5.  Krzysztof Holowczyc  Nissan      + 6h44:42
 6.  Dieter Depping       Volkswagen  + 8h33:23
 7.  Miroslav Zapletal    Mitsubishi  +10h49:36
 8.  Leonid Novitskiy     BMW         +13h19:06
 9.  Guerlain Chicherit   BMW         +14h56:00
10.  Bruce Garland        Isuzu       +18h17:40