Dakar Rally: Terranova and Loprais top marathon stage seven; day off for Santosh on rest day for bikes

The 2015 edition of Dakar Rally got all but easier for the car and the truck drivers as they covered over 600 km in stage four on Saturday, without any aid from their support team. The cars had to cross a mountain plateau at an altitude of 3,900 metres above sea level while the trucks took a sandy route on their way to Uyuni.

India's CS Santosh had a well deserved break on his maiden Dakar Rally campaign as the bike and quad entries had a day off in Iquique and will resume their off-road odyssey tomorrow. Media reports from the event state that the 31-year-old from Bangalore's hairline fracture on his left toe will eventually heal and that he will be fit to ride once more.

CARS: TERRANOVA HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE REST

Orlando Terranova claimed his third stage victory of this year’s Dakar Rally in the marathon seventh stage on Saturday, beating Toyota drivers Yazeed Al Rajhi and Bernhard Ten Brinke by over two minutes.

However, despite the 40% winning rate, Terranova doesn’t have a shot at the overall win, having lost six hours in stage four alone with mechanical gremlins.

Instead, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Giniel De Villiers remain as the title protagonist in the cars category. As far as today’s stage was concerned, De Villiers clocked the sixth fastest time of the day, cutting his Qatari rival’s lead to eight minutes and 10 seconds in the overall standings.

Results

Orlando Terranova (MINI) 3:31:18
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota) +2:20
Bernhard Ten brinke (Toyota) +2:28
Krzysztof Holowczyc (MINI) +2:57
Nani Roma (MINI) +4:02
Giniel De Villiers (Toyota) +6:50
Nasser Al-Attiyah (MINI) +9:48
Stéphane Peterhansel (Peugeot) +10:43
Robby Gordon (Gordini) +10:48
Vladimir Vasilkey (MINI) +13:32

TRUCKS: LOPRAIS WINS STAGE SEVEN, NIKOLAEV LANGUISHES IN 20th

The trucks race saw Ales Loprais take stage seven by over five minutes from Iveco of Gerard De Rooy, while previous standings leader Eduard Nikolaev had a dreadful weekend in the cross-country rally.

Having surged to the lead after three consecutive stage victories, Nikolaev endured a major setback on Saturday, losing over one hour and finishing down in 20th place. The result means the Russian driver now sits fourth in the overall standings, 44 minutes behind new leader Ayrat Mardeev.

Mardeev himself finished a disappointing fourth, but with a 22 minute margin over fellow Kamaz driver Andrey Karginov in the standings, he can afford to lose some time.

Results

Ales Loprais (MANS) 4:02:54
Gerard de Rooy (Iveco) +5:39
Andrey Karginov (Kamaz) +5:49
Dmitry Sotnikov (Kamaz) +7:17
Ayrat Mardeev (Kamaz) +8:14
Hans Stacey (Iveco) +25:59
Martin Van Den Brink (Renault) +28:20
Aleksandr Vasilevsky(MAZ) +35:18
Martin Kolomy (Tatra) +36:01
Wulfert Van Ginkel (Ginaf) +38:19