14 Jan 2011

Al-Attiyah eyes win as Sainz gamble fails

12:10 pm on 14 January 2011

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah has virtually wrapped up the Dakar Rally, winning the 11th stage in Argentina as a broken suspension ruled out the defending champion Carlos Sainz .

Al-Attiyah, also in a Volkswagen, finished the 523km stage with a one minute 13 seconds advantage over France's Stephane Peterhansel, in a BMW, and nearly five minutes ahead of South Africa's Giniel de Villiers, in another Volkswagen.

The Spanish veteran Sainz, a former double world rally champion, began the stage more than 12 minutes back and then spent more than an hour spent repairing a broken front suspension which stopped his car after 410km.