Carlos Sainz cruised to a comfortable win in today’s seventh stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally.
The former World Rally champion completed the long-distance 533-kilometre test – a loop of the Argentine town of Salta – 4m45s ahead of the rest of the field in his SMG Buggy.
Despite his best efforts, Sainz is still way off in sixth overall after incurring a 60-minute penalty on Thursday and remains the best part of two hours behind current leader Nani Roma.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, who also incurred a similar penalty last week, emerged as the best of the rest, while fellow X-Raid Mini team-mates Stephane Peterhansel and Roma finished the day in third and fourth respectively.
While Roma managed to maintain his position at the top of the overall classification today, there has been a change for second and third, with Peterhansel and Giniel de Villiers moving up the order after Orlando Terranova received a penalty.
The Argentinian driver had 15 minutes applied to his time following an incident with a motorcyclist during the previous stage and, as a result, has been relegated to fourth, ahead of Al-Attiyah and Sainz.
The rally continues tomorrow with the competitors crossing the Andes Cordillera to begin the Chilean leg of the event.
Leading stage seven times:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Carlos Sainz SMG Buggy 4h43m28s
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah X-raid Mini +4m45s
3. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini +7m26s
4. Nani Roma X-raid Mini +8m56s
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc X-raid Mini +10m51s
6. Federico Villagra X-raid Mini +12m54s
7. Vladimir Vasilyev X-raid Mini +15m58s
8. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota +16m25s
9. Orlando Terranova X-raid Mini +18m00s
10. Bernhard Ten Brinke Ford HRX +20m04s
Leading overall positions after stage seven:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Nani Roma X-raid Mini 27h03m52s
2. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini +31m53s
3. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota +48m23s
4. Orlando Terranova X-raid Mini +54m34s
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah X-raid Mini +1h18m24s
6. Carlos Sainz SMG Buggy +1h50m42s
7. Marek Dabrowski Orlen Toyota +2h30m47s
8. Krzysztof Holowczyc X-raid Mini +2h30m52s
9. Federico Villagra X-raid Mini +2h52m57s
10. Christian Lavieille H8 Haval +3h07m06s
