Dakar Rally: Giniel De Villiers wins 5th stage
Published 4:32 pm Wednesday, January 7, 2009
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A Frenchman became the latest fatality in the Dakar Rally on Wednesday, when Nasser Al Attiyah reclaimed the race’s overall lead and NASCAR star Robbie Gordon was third in a fifth stage won by Giniel De Villiers.
The body of motorcyclist Pascal Terry, missing since Sunday, was found in dense bush between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madryn. The first-time Dakar racer was near his motorbike without his helmet, but with food and water beside him. Las Pampas regional police were investigating.
De Villiers, of South Africa, drove his Volkswagen through a swath of troublesome sand dunes to complete the 314-mile stage in 5 hours, 47 minutes, 43 seconds. He was 2:18 ahead of German teammate Dieter Depping. Gordon, driving a Hummer, was 4:12 back.
“This was undoubtedly the toughest stage so far,” De Villiers said. “There was quite a bit of offroad and it was hard to find the right way.”
Carlos Sainz began the stage with a 3:46 overall lead on Al Attiyah, but made a mistake that cost him the front hood on his Volkswagen. The Spaniard finished the stage ninth, and Al Attiyah was fourth in his BMW, and the Qatari grabbed the overall lead by almost 2½ minutes on De Villiers. Sainz was 6:33 behind with the race about to reach the Andean foothills on Thursday.
Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France lost his rear hood in a roll but finished fifth in the stage without a radiator, and was fourth overall, nearly 14 minutes off the pace. The Dakar’s most successful driver with nine titles, he was contemplating whether to continue.
Marc Coma of Spain continued to lead the motorbike class, but his lead over American Jonah Street was slashed from 43 minutes to 27 because of a flat tire.
Street won the stage in 6:41:06 after he had been trailing Chilean Francisco Lopez for most of the race.
The 49-year-old Terry informed race organizers on Sunday that he had run out of fuel but then obtained some from another rider. Later, he sent out an alert, and a search was launched. Rescuers had a difficult time finding him in the dense terrain.
Two motorcyclists died in the last rally, in 2007.
On Tuesday, the search was briefly called off after rescuers thought they spotted him. A rescue team finally reached him overnight.
Meanwhile, car fires knocked out two world champions from France, Christian Lavieille and Yvan Muller.
Thursday’s sixth stage is 245 miles from San Rafael to Mendoza, the heart of Argentina’s wine region, nestled at the base of the Andes. The rally finishes on Jan. 18 in Buenos Aires.
