Ten-time champion Stephane Peterhansel has extended his Dakar Rally lead but the endurance motor racing event was once again hit by tragedy when a French motorcyclist was killed.
As the Mini driver claimed the seventh stage to build a lead of more than three minutes over Buggy campaigner Nasser al-Attiyah, the event was reeling from a third death in two days.
Motorcycle competitor Thomas Bourgin of France, was involved in a collision with a police car which was coming in the opposite direction on the link road to the start of the stage in Calama.
The day before two people were killed in a head-on collision between a rally support vehicle and a taxi near Peru's border with Chile.
Going into the 2013 event, some 59 people, including 20 spectators, had lost their lives in the race.
