Dakar Rally: Al Attiyah Maintains Lead after Stage Ten

Riyadh, January 12 (QNA) - Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah maintained his overall lead in the Dakar Desert Rally held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the third year in a row, ranking seventh, with the conclusion of the tenth stage on Wednesday, which was held in (Wadi Al Dawasir - Bisha) for a distance of 375 km. Al Attiyah finished seventh, five minutes and 50 seconds behind the French driver Stephane Peterhansel of the (Audi) team, who won first place and passed the distance in two hours and fifty-two minutes and 43 seconds, led his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz by two minutes and six seconds, while the French Sebastien Loeb reduced the difference with Al Attiyah, by setting the fifth fastest time, a difference of one minute and 35 seconds. Spaniard Orlando Terranova of the Bahrain Raid Extreme team finished third, ahead of Henk Latigan of Toyota, who came in fourth by 12 seconds to score his best result since winning the sixth stage last week. Al Attiyah confirmed in a press statement after the end of the race today that his efforts focused on finishing the stage without wasting much time, as one minute was lost in favor of the French driver Sebastien Loeb, but the start will be in a good position in stage (11) tomorrow. (QNA)