Dakar Rally – Stage 7 summary

- Car: Stage 7 summary
Pending validation by the race marshalls, Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (VW) gets his second stage victory in this 32nd Dakar, his sixth stage victory in any Dakar by arriving 3’29 ahead of French driver Stéphane Peterhansel (BMW)and 4’21 ahead of his teammate Spain’s Carlos Sainz (VW)… No worries however for “El Matador” in the overall standings as the two-time rally world champion in 90 and 92 now has – mid-race – an 11’03 lead on Al-Attiyah and a 22’06 on his teammate US driver Mark Miller, which keeps three Race Touaregs in the three first places in the standings! As for “Peter”, he is now 2h03’10 behind the raid leaders in the standings…

- Bike: Stage 7 summary
Pending validation by the race marshalls, Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM) gets his second stage victory in this 32nd Dakar, his 22nd in a Dakar. With a time of 6h34’14, the already comfortable leader in the overall standings beat his biggest rival, Spaniard Marc Coma (KTM)by 29″ and his countryman David Frétigné (Yamaha) by 5’00. By a way of consequence, at mid-race, Cyril Despres is more than comfortable leader with a 1h06’50 lead on Spain’s Marc Coma (KTM) and a 1h20’08 lead on Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha)…

- Truck: Stage 7 summary
Pending validation by the race marshalls, five-Dakar winner Russian driver Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) has won today his sixth stage victory in seven special stages on this 2010 Dakar and his 53rd in total on a Dakar (8), which allows him to equate the absolute record held by Stéphane Peterhansel! At the finish Chagin arrived today 25’35 ahead of his teammate and countryman Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz)… In the standings mid-race, the “Tsar” Chagin is leisurly in the lead with now a 1h03’46 lead over his closest contender and faithful lieutenant Kabirov. Needless to say that Chagin can now dream of equating another record: the six Dakar final victory record held by Czech driver Karel Loprais.

- Quad: Stage 7 summary
Pending confirmation by the race marshalls, Argentine rider Alejandro Patronelli (Yamaha) wins today his second stage on the 2010 Dakar by being fastest on this seventh stage of the 32nd edition of the Dakar. With a time of 8h10’22, the oldest of the Patronelli brothers arrived 3’30 ahead of his younger brother Marcos (Yamaha) and 30’13 ahead of Polish rider Rafal Sonik (Yamaha)… Hence, in the standings, at mid-race, Marcos Patronelli is now way ahead with a 2h22’25 lead on his older brother Alejandro and a 4h59’53 lead on his countryman Sebastian Halpern (Yamaha).
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SOURCE:
“Dakar: Breaking news”

http://www.dakar.com

http://www.dakar.com/us/DAKAR/2010/stage-7/breaking-news.html#30888