Leader Stephane Peterhansel of Peugeot topped the time sheets in the weather-hit seventh stage of the Dakar Rally yesterday, gaining 48 seconds on teammate and nearest rival Sebastien Loeb.
The La Paz–Uyuni test that awaited competitors was revamped and reduced in length after torrential rain had hit Bolivia and made the original route nonviable.
Reigning champion Peterhansel, who was narrowly ahead of Loeb heading into the midway stage of the event, had been more than a minute up on the nine-time WRC champion at around halfway point — before Loeb clawed back the deficit by the end of the 161km timed section.
The pair are now split by 1 minute 57 seconds at the head of the race, pulling away from Nani Roma and Cyril Despres, the former disrupting a Peugeot 1-2-3 that had held since Friday.
Toyota driver Roma and Peugeot man Despres, who were both around five minutes off Peterhansel at the start of the stage, ended the day 11 and 14 minutes adrift, respectively.
Completing the top three within the stage was Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers, three minutes and a half off Peterhansel, with X-Raid Mini’s Mikko Hirvonen slotting in right behind and maintaining his overall fifth place.
Peugeot privateer Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi of the UAE was an impressive sixth in the stage, splitting Roma and Despres.
In the bike class, Ricky Brabec kicked off the second week of Dakar by becoming the sixth different winner in as many stages, narrowly beating Paulo Goncalves.
After shortening Stage 5 and cancelling the subsequent run due to poor weather, yesterday’s test was also modified as it became a combination of the sixth and seventh stages.
Brabec, who started the day in 21st, nearly two hours adrift leader Sam Sunderland, was 1 minute 44 seconds in the clear by the finish. His closest challenger was Goncalves, the fellow Honda rider gaining one position to eighth in the overall classification.
Sunderland was third and beat main rival Pablo Quintanilla to extend his overall lead to 17 minutes. The Chilean was ninth in the stage, as top Yamaha rider Adrien Van Beveren and KTM’s Gerard Farres Guell, third and fourth overall, followed him in 10th and 11th respectively.
Matthias Walkner and Xavier De Soultrait continue to complete the top six, which is still within 40 minutes.
The organisers were forced to slash yesterday’s seventh stage as the gruelling 9,000km race continues to be plagued by torrential rain in Bolivia.
The run from La Paz to Uyuni, which should have featured a 322km timed stage, was reduced to 161km, with over 600km, instead of 300km, in liaison.
Bolivia’s stages in the race have been badly affected by the weather with Friday’s run from Tupiza to Oruro shortened and Saturday’s Oruro to La Paz stage cancelled completely.
Twelve hours of heavy rain fell on Friday night leaving large parts of the Oruro bivouac sinking in 20cm of mud and forcing competitors and fans to cover their shoes with plastic bags as they sloshed through the quagmire.

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