Paris-Dakar: Schlesser still on top

Servia topped the times on Friday's stage through the Moroccan desert and at the halfway point of today's (Saturday) gruelling Quarzazate-Goulmine section the Spaniard looked set to take a second consecutive stage victory. But after 608 km of stone and gravel terrain, it was Schlesser who came out on top.

The Schlesser cars continue to dominate with Jean-Pierre Fontenay in his stalwart Mitsubishi Pajero the nearest contender in third place. The 43-year-old Frenchman won the third day's Castellon-Almeria stage, but has since been unable to match the pace of the lead pair.

Fellow Frenchman and erstwhile downhill skier Luc Alphand had a less successful day. After finishing only 12th on Friday Alphand's bad luck continued as his Renault Kangoo suffered gearbox problems 35 km into the stage forcing him to wait for spares to arrive.

In the motorbike class, Joan Roma continued to dominate on his BMW and finished a massive 22 seconds ahead of the overall rally leader Richard Sainct. Kami Tianen continued his good run to finish in third spot.

The Rally moves on to stage seven - the final test in Morocco - on Sunday to the Goulimine-Smara section which runs for 489 km across tricky, gravel terrain.


1 SCHLESSER / MAGNE, Schlesser
2 SERVIA / LURQUIN, Schlesser
3 FONTENAY / PICARD, Mitsubishi
4 MASUOKA / MAIMON, Mitsubishi
5 DE LAVERGNE / DUBOIS, Nissan
6 SOUSA / POLATO, Nissan
7 KLEINSCHMIDT / SCHULZ, Mitsubishi
8 SABY / DELLI - ZOTTI, Ford
9 SHINOZUKA / GALLAGHER, Mitsubishi
10 DE MEVIUS / GUEHENNEC, Nissan