Peterhansel Wins Stage 3, Takes Dakar Rally Lead

Another day, another stage winner and yet another overall leader in the 2010 edition of the Dakar Rally. Following the action in Day 3 of the South American event, it is legendary driver Stephane Peterhansel to grab 1st place in the overall classification, after a smashing performance La Rioja to Fiambala.

The 9-time winner of the event set the pace from the early beginning of the stage, completing the 182-km special in less than 4 hours. He was practically unbeatable on Tuesday, as he set the fastest time on two check points during the day and eventually finished the stage 5 minutes and 44 seconds ahead of nearest rival Carlos Sainz.

The BMW driver jumped from 3rd overall to leader of the 2010 Dakar Rally also due to Nasser Al-Attiyah's poor performance on Tuesday. The VW driver finished the day more than 10 minutes behind the X-Raid competitor, therefore dropping to 3rd overall in the event classification.

Volkswagen managed to end another day with no less than 3 drivers inside the Top 5, as Mark Miller finished the stage some 13 seconds shy of Al-Attiyah.

Nani Roma (first leader of the 2010 Dakar Rally) and Giniel de Villiers (last year's winner) were again the victims of a sever crash and engine problems respectively, both losing a huge amount of time during yesterday's stage and dropping outside of the overall Top 10.

Here is the overall classification after stage 3 of the 2010 Dakar Rally:

1. Stephane Peterhansel (BMW)       9:14:28
2. Carlos Sainz (VW)                          + 4:33
3. Nasser Al-Attiyah (VW)                   + 7:31
4. Mark Miller (VW)                             + 13:12
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Nissan)         + 40:38
6. Carlos Sousa (Mitsubishi)               + 46:45
7. Alfie Cox (Nissan)                            + 47:58
8. Guilherme Spinelli (Mitsubishi)        + 1:01:52
9. Robby Gordon (Hummer)                + 1:04:52
10. Mauricio Neves (Volkswagen)       + 1:09:14