NAZCA, Peru: Qatar Rally Team maintained their 100% record at the 2013 Dakar Rally by winning a third consecutive stage as the Qatari ace and Dakar-winner 2011 Nasser Al-Attiyah won the third stage of the race which covered more of Peru’s expansive desert.
Al Attiyah and his Spanish codriver Lucas Cruz in their Qatar Toyo Buggy needed 02:30:14 for the 243 km timed section.
Nasser Al-Attiyah kept the party going for his team on Stage Three as he followed up Carlos Sainz’s victories on the first two days with a win of his own.
The Qatari driver and his sidekick Lucas Cruz started the day in seventh place before hunting down the cars in front of them to win the stage.
Second became Robby Gordon with his Hummer Buggy with only 1:18 minutes to Al Attiyah. 3rd became Stephane Peterhansel with his Mini and 3:52 mins gap in front of Lucio Alvarez in the best Toyota Hilux (+9:36) and Nani Roma in the second Mini (+15:29). The Pole Kristof Holowczyc today crashed with his Mini and eventually could not finish the stage.
Al-Attiyah moved to second in the overall standings some six-and-a-half minutes behind France's Mini-driving 10-time champion Stephane Peterhansel.
In the overall rankings Stephane Peterhansel is still the leader with 6:33 minutes to Nasser Al Attiyah (Qatar Toyo Buggy) and 18:11 mins to Lucio Alvarez in the best Toyota. They were followed by the Russian Leonid Novitskiy (+21:10) and the second Qatar Toyo Buggy of Carlos Sainz (+21:16). (QNA)
