ARICA, Chile (AP) — Carlos Sainz won the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday, maintaining his overall lead as the grueling race passed through the Atacama desert to the Chile-Peru border.
The defending champion in the cars category guided his Volkswagen to victory in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 53 seconds. Nasser Al-Attiyah was 9 seconds back with Giniel de Villiers 9:49 behind.
In the overall, Sainz is 2:42 up on Al-Attiyah and 14:15 ahead of Stephane Peterhansel.
In bikes, Ruben Faria on a KTM won the stage in 5:37:27. Helder Rodrigues was 50 seconds back and Cyril Despres trailed by 3:54.
Marc Coma, who finished the stage fourth, kept his overall lead. He is 8:48 ahead of Despres and 22:12 in front of Francisco Lopez Contardo heading into Saturday’s rest day.
