After a good start he stayed in Sainz’s track to take the lead after 128 kilometers and steam through to the stage win. For the Frenchman it was his 49th win in the cars. This brings him to a stage victory of record holder Ari Vatanen from Finland. Besides 49 victories in the cars, Peterhansel also won 33 stages in the motorcycles.
Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, second in the standings. finished fifth at 4.25. In the standings, he caught up 1.25 to Al-Attiyah, who finished seventh on Wednesday. The Qatari was given a 5-minute time penalty on Tuesday evening for putting on his seat belt too late. He had punctured earlier in the day. After the flat tire was replaced, Al-Attiyah and co-driver Baumel left. Images showed that both did not put on their seat belts until after more than a minute and a half. The difference between Al-Attiyah and Loeb is still over 30 minutes.
In the motorcycle race, the win was for Australian Toby Price on his KTM. His teammate Matthias Walkner lost more than fifteen minutes and the lead. That is now again for Yamaha driver Adrien Van Beveren. The Frenchman is ahead of Briton Sam Sunderland (KTM) and Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda). The Argentinian Kevin Benavides, last year’s winner, had to give up.
The Russian Dmitri Sotnikov (Kamaz) won a stage for the fourth time and is the leader in the trucks. Janus van Kasteren was the best Dutchman in seventh place. He is fifth in the standings.
