Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won his fourth stage in the Dakar Rally in Argentina on Wednesday, the ninth win in 10 days for Mini, as he closed in on a second title.
In the motorcycle division, Joan Barreda of Spain rode his Honda to a third stage win, with defending champion Marc Coma extending his overall lead to nearly eight minutes with three days to go.
After crossing the Andes from Calama to Chile, the mammoth 859km stage, 371km timed to Salta, saw Al-Attiyah extend his overall lead to more than 28 minutes on South African Giniel de Villiers, in a Toyota, the 2009 race winner.
“It wasn’t an easy day and I think the last few days must’ve seen a lot of rain which deepened the holes on the course,” said Attiyah who won an Olympic bronze medal in skeet shooting at the 2012 London Games.
“That’s what made Nani’s (Roma) car turn over, but he’s fine. We’re here and I’m rather happy because I think we clocked a good time, we’re doing our job every day and the rest isn’t my problem.
“We need to get to the finish but I’m happy with how things are going, we’ve been leading the rally since the start in Buenos Aires.
“It’s not that easy, but the team’s done a great job, just like (co-driver) Mathieu (Baumel), the only mishap we’ve had is the day we lost a wheel.” added the 44-year-old who also won the race in 2011.
Spaniard Nani Roma, the defending champion and winner of the ninth stage on Tuesday, was close to abandoning after seriously damaging his Mini at the 193km mark while de Villiers believes he can still take overall victory.
“We had a rather calm day, I didn’t push too hard, especially after we saw what had happened to Nani (Roma),” said the 42-year-old from Barrydale.
“It just goes to show you can always be caught unawares and suffer an accident but Nasser’s too far ahead, it makes no sense to take risks.
“We won’t be able to catch him unless he makes mistakes, but it can happen. Yesterday was a disappointment, but we still believe in our chances, you never know.
“It ain’t over yet. Things are good, on balance, because we know we’re still in the fight for victory.”
Barrada’s chances of overall victory in the motorcycle race were shattered when he lost more than four hours with mechanical problems on the stage to Iquique, Chile, on Monday.
But he had better luck on the run to Salta and crossed the line more than 90sec ahead of KTM’s Coma and nearly two minutes in front of Portugal’s Ruben Faria.
Four-time champion Coma added nearly two minutes to his advantage over his closest rival in the overall standings, Honda rider Paulo Goncalves of Portugal, who only came home fifth on the stage.
Should Spain’s Coma be crowned champion at the end of the race on Saturday in Buenos Aires, it will be the 14th straight triumph for Austrian constructor KTM.