Nani Roma maintained his Dakar Rally lead as the event reached its halfway point, but his X-raid Mini team-mate Stephane Peterhansel commenced a comeback charge.
After a troubled first week, Peterhansel was 40 minutes adrift of leader Roma at the end of Thursday’s fifth stage.
A record-equalling 63rd stage win on Friday’s run from Tucuman to Salta allowed Peterhansel to carve six minutes out of the gap to the front, however.
Peterhansel is now back to third place, still 33 minutes behind Roma – who was only sixth quickest on stage six – but just under three minutes away from second-place Orlando Terranova in another Mini.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz’s Thursday penalties have left them fifth and sixth overall, behind Giniel de Villiers.
Al-Attiyah was second to Peterhansel on Friday with a time 2m43s slower.
The rally now pauses for its traditional halfway rest day before resuming on Sunday.
Leading stage six times: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini 2h42m58s 2. Nasser Al-Attiyah X-raid Mini +2m43s 3. Orlando Terranova X-raid Mini +5m20s 4. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota +6m06s 5. Carlos Sainz SMG Buggy +6m31s 6. Nani Roma X-raid Mini +6m36s 7. Vladimir Vasilyev X-raid Mini +12m02s 8. Krzysztof Holowczyc X-raid Mini +12m34s 9. Federico Villagra X-raid Mini +12m53s 10. Christian Lavieille Haval +13m01s Leading overall positions after stage six: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Nani Roma X-raid Mini 22h11m28s 2. Orlando Terranova X-raid Mini +30m30s 3. Stephane Peterhansel X-raid Mini +33m23s 4. Giniel de Villiers Imperial Toyota +40m54s 5. Nasser Al-Attiyah X-raid Mini +1h22m35s 6. Carlos Sainz SMG Buggy +1h59m38s 7. Marek Dabrowski Orlen Toyota +1h59m39s 8. Pascal Thomasse MD Buggy +2h21m08s 9. Krzysztof Holowczyc X-raid Mini +2h28m57s 10. Adam Malysz Orlen Toyota +2h43m13s
