9 Jan 2010

Volkswagen wins seventh stage of the Dakar Rally

11:17 am on 9 January 2010

Nasser Al-Attiyah of Volkswagen has won the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally cars section, a 600km special from Iquique to Antofagasta in Chile.

Al-Attiyah saw off early race pace-setter Stephane Peterhansel of BMW by 3min 29sec and finished 4min 21sec ahead of Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz, who still leads the overall standings.

Earlier, Frenchman Cyril Despres won the motorcycling stage and Despres now leads the way overall after the longest special stage of the event with a 29sec lead over Spanish KTM rival Marc Coma.