JACOBACCI, Argentina: Spanish Volkswagen driver and former world rally champion Carlos Sainz and compatriot Mara Coma are setting the pace after the opening three stages of the Dakar Rally - although Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah (BMW) pipped Sainz to Monday's special.
Al-Attiyah nipped in by 35 seconds to take the honors following a 551km special from Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci.
Volkswagen's Sainz nonetheless leads the Qatari by 3 minutes 40 seconds.
However, Al-Attiyah was delighted to have made up some of the ground he lost on Sunday when he lost over six minutes to Sainz.
"Today (Monday), I had to attack," said the Qatari.
"I lost a lot of time on Sunday so I had to take that into account and push hard.
"Now, I know that Carlos and I will be playing the game. Tomorrow (Tuesday), he will start behind me and I'm sure he will be putting the pressure on pretty quickly in the race."
Germany's Dieter Depping was third on the day, 1:40 off the pace.
In the overall standings, South AFrica's Volkswagen driver Giniel De Villiers stands third 5:45 behind Sainz after finishing fourth in the stage.
Mitsubishi's Luc Alphand - champion in 2006 - suffered technical problems to lose ground on the leading group as he suffered a petrol leak which cost him over half an hour.
Spain's Marc Coma of KTM won the third motorcycle stage as fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres, who won the event in 2005 and 2007, lost more ground.
Coma saw off KTM pair Norwegian Pal Anders Ullevalseter and Spaniard Jordi Viladoms by 17:49.
Despres is languishing in 33rd after a dreadful start and the Frenchman now trails Coma by more than 90 minutes.
He had problems with his tires on Monday and it was exacerbated further as he feared he had a hernia, so went only 60km an hour for the final few kilometers.
Coma has established a lead of 39:11 over Frenchman David Fretigne (Yamaha) and leads Dutchman Frans Verhoeven (KTM) by 41:14.
Coma, though, warned that because of the tough conditions many riders could face the same problems as Despres.
"The bikes are suffering a lot and the tires are suffering even more," admitted Coma.
"For now we are staying out of trouble. Each one has his own strategy and we are doing fine with ours."
The 2009 edition of the gruelling race has been switched this year from Africa to Argentina and Chile because of security fears. It features 540 competitors from 50 countries and covers 9,000 km spread over 13 stages - three in Chile and 10 in Argentina - with the finish scheduled for Buenos Aires on Jan 18.
Source: China Daily
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