Published on January 15th, 2013 | by Daniel Sherman Fernandez
0Dakar Rally News 2013_14th JANUARY 2013_Mini Countryman Right At Home
10 time Dakar Rally champion Stephane Peterhansel has taken a commanding lead in the car category after finishing second in Monday’s ninth stage. Peterhansel was beaten by Spain’s Joan Roma in the stage, but increased his overall lead to 49 minutes, 31 seconds over Giniel Devilliers of South Africa. Nasser Al-Attiyah, who trailed Peterhansel’s Mini by only 3:14 after eight stages, suffered several mechanical breakdowns including one just a few miles from the finish that took him out of contention. In motorbikes, Ruben Faria of Portugal finished fourth in the stage but took the overall lead, 5:23 ahead of defending champion Cyril Despres of France.