Dakar Rally: Al-Attiyah wins Stage 11 and reduces gap to Peterhansel

January 14, 2016 – Nasser Al-Attiyah took his second victory of the 2016 Dakar in Thursday’s 11th stage of the event; the Qatari won from Peugeot rival Sebastien Loeb, who finished the stage being towed by Cyril Despres after his car stopped right at the end.

Rally leader Stephane Peterhansel finished the 431-km special in fourth, taking another step towards a record 12th Dakar victory on Saturday.

Reigning champion Al-Attiyah won with a time of 4h49m16s, beating Loeb by 5m52s and Mikko Hirvonen by 7m01s. Peterhansel lost 8m05s to Al-Attiyah but still holds a healthy 52-minute lead with two stages remaining.

The only change in the top 10 after today’s stage is Roma moving in front of Despres and into sixth position.

Overall standings after Stage 11:

Pos. No. Driver Car Time/Gap
1 302  Stephane Peterhansel Peugeot 37h42m20s
2 300  Nasser Al-Attiyah Mini 51m55s
3 301  Giniel de Villiers Toyota 1h17m24s
4 315  Mikko Hirvonen Mini 1h22m47s
5 319  Leeroy Poulter Toyota 1h46m36s
6 304  Nani Roma Mini 1h54m34s
7 321  Cyril Despres Peugeot 1h56m53s
8 307  Vladimir Vasilyev Toyota 2h11m31s
9 314  Sebastien Loeb Peugeot 2h25m18s
10 323  Harry Hunt Mini 2h48m02s

Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) of Axion X-Raid Team races during stage 08 of Rally Dakar 2016 from Salta to Belen, Argentina on January 11, 2016 // Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160111-00248 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //