Dakar Rally 2017: Loeb retains lead of car class as Toyota's hopes take a hit

Peugeot's chances of holding on to their Dakar Rally title got a big boost on yesterday's third stage as Nasser Al-Attiyah suffered a crash in his Toyota that lead to him losing his right-rear wheel. Former nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb continues to lead the car class but only by 42 seconds from teammate and former winner Carlos Sainz.

Stephane Peterhansel won the third stage and rose up the rankings to make it a 1-2-3 for the Peugeot 3008 DKR as the Frenchman trails compatriot Loeb by 4 minutes.

The problems for Al-Attiyah, that see him drop to 25th overall, allowed the X-Raid Mini team to get one of their drivers into the top five. Former WRC winner Mikko Hirvonen is fourth overall, five minutes behind Peterhansel, with Nani Roma's Toyota Hilux a further four minutes adrift in fifth.

Just like in the bike category, navigation was the major challenge of the day with drivers having to face that issue within the first 70km of the 364km of timed section itself.

Erik Van Loon of Toyota was another major casualty as he dropped out of the top ten to 35th overall. Meanwhile, Xavier Pons, who was second overall after the first stage in his Ford Ranger, isn't even classified anymore.

The blue oval's best representation so far has been from Martin Prokop in a Ford F150 Evo in 18th overall.