Scotland’s Colin McRae won Sunday’s third stage of the Dakar Rally to take the overall lead in the two-continent race as the event completed its route through Spain and headed to Africa.
McRae, a former World Rally champion, completed the day’s 10km stage outside Grenada in seven minutes and 48 seconds, six seconds faster than defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France, to climb atop the cars division with an overall time of 12,22.
American Robbie Gordon, who won the first stage and held the overall lead, finished fifth in Sunday’s stage in his Volkswagen, 15 seconds behind McRae, and slipped to number two by one second.
South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers was third, two seconds back, with Peterhansel fourth, another five seconds back.
Frenchman David Fretigne won the day’s stage on his Yamaha and extended his lead atop the motorcycle division to 11 seconds, while Dutchman Hans Bekx led the truck category by 24 seconds.
The field of 229 motorcycles, 162 cars and 66 trucks will be ferried across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangiers in Morocco before resuming the race on Monday out of Rabat. Monday’s racing will include 123km of competition out of the 666km between the Moroccan capital and the southern coastal city of Agadir.
This year’s Dakar Rally, the 27th edition of the annual race, will cover 8 956km between Barcelona and Dakar, including 5 431km of competitive special stages, before concluding on January 16. — Sapa-AP