France’s Stephane Peterhansel was in sight of his second successive Dakar Rally triumph on Saturday after safely negotiating the 15th and penultimate stage of the gruelling 2005 event.
South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers, driving a Nissan, clinched the stage, a 225km special from Tambacounda, clocking two hours, 21 minutes and 15 seconds to win by 57 seconds over France’s Bruno Saby, in a Volkswagen, with Portugal’s Nissan driver Carlos Sousa one minute further back.
It was the South African’s second stage win of this year’s event but all the attention was on Peterhansel, who came home in fifth place.
He increased his overall lead ahead of Sunday’s final stage with the Mitsubishi driver having a 27,13 edge over countryman Luc Alphand and a 3:23,17 advantage over Germany’s Jutta Kleinschmidt in a Volkswagen.
”That was one of the most beautiful Dakar stages,” said De Villiers. ”It was very fast, winding and technical. That’s great from a driver’s point of view. Sunday, we just have the 31km special stage around the Rose Lake, and then the finish.”
Cyril Despres of France, riding a KTM, won the motorcycle race in 2:27,37 with countryman Alain Duclos 1,24 behind and Australia’s Andy Caldecott in third.
Despres now has a 9,45 lead over Spain’s Marc Coma in the overall standings, while Alfie Cox of South Africa occupies third place.
Sunday’s final stage is a 31km special around Dakar. — Sapa-AFP