Dakar legend Stephane Peterhansel moved into the lead of this year's rally after dominating Monday's third stage of the event.
The Frenchman, a nine-time winner of the Dakar, set the fastest time in two of the three control points of the stage and finished the day nearly six minutes ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Peterhansel's stage win is a record 52nd for the X-Raid driver, at the wheel of a BMW X3 in this year's edition. The 182-km special from from La Rioja to Fiambala was completed in slightly less than three hours.
Peterhansel's victory has moved him into the lead of the event, four minutes and 33 seconds ahead of Volkswagen's Sainz, from sixth position. Sainz's teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, the leader until yesterday, dropped down to third overall after finishing more than 10 minutes behind Peterhansel in third position. Just 13 seconds behind Al-Attiyah was another Volkswagen, that of American Mark Miller, fourth in the stage and in the standings.
The first leader of this year's rally, Nani Roma, hit trouble again and damaged his BMW after driving into a hole. The Spaniard lost a lot of time and dropped out of contention.
Last year's winner Giniel De Villiers was also in trouble after his Volkswagen Touareg suffered a severe engine problem just 50km into the stage. The South African was forced to stop and wait for assistance and his chances of a repeat victory seem all but gone already.
Stage third results:Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Stephane Peterhansel BMW 3h55m14s
2. Carlos Sainz VW + 5m44s
3. Nasser Al-Attiyah VW + 10m01s
4. Mark Miller VW + 10m14s
5. Guerlain Chicherit BMW + 19m18s
6. Ronan Chabot Toyota + 23m46s
7. Alfie Cox Nissan + 27m01s
8. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan + 28m20s
9. Carlos Sousa Mitsubishi + 39m02s
10. Guilherme Spinelli Mitsubishi + 41m002
Overall standings after stage three:Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Stephane Peterhansel BMW 9h14m28s
2. Carlos Sainz VW + 4m33s
3. Nasser Al-Attiyah VW + 7m31s
4. Mark Miller VW + 13m12s
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan + 40m38s
6. Carlos Sousa Mitsubishi + 46m45s
7. Alfie Cox Nissan + 47m58
8. Guilherme Spinelli Mitsubishi + 1h01m52s
9. Robby Gordon Hummer + 1h04m52s
10. Mauricio Neves Volkswagen + 1h09m14s