Al-Attiyah wins again to take full command in Dakar Rally

TERMES DE RIO HONDO: Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah continued his dominance of the Dakar Rally on Thursday as he won his fifth car stage and closed in on a second success after his maiden win in 2011.

The 44-year-old, who won an Olympic bronze in skeet shooting at the 2012 London Games, drove his Mini to a 27sec win over teammate Orlando Terranova, on the 520km route (194km timed) from Salta to Termas de Rio Hondo.

South African Giniel de Villiers in a Toyota was third, 39secs back.

It was the 10th win in 11 stages for Mini who now stand on the brink of a fourth success in the gruelling annual event.

Al-Attiyah now holds an overall lead of nearly 30mins on de Villiers with two days until the finish at Buenos Aires where the race began.

Defending champion Nani Roma of Spain was unable to start the stage although his chances of winning the race were already beyond doubt.

In the motorcycle category, Spaniard Joan Barreda rode his Honda to a second straight stage win and fourth overall while standings leader Marc Coma comfortably protected his advantage with two days to go.

The riders raced across 523km (298km timed) over fast terrain to Termas de Rio Hondo as KTM rider Coma coasted home in sixth place with the knowledge that his closest rival Paulo Goncalves (Honda) had been penalised 15mins on Wednesday for changing his engine.

Portugal´s Goncalves finished second behind Barreda, who followed on from his stage win on Wednesday, but now trails Spain´s Coma by nearly 20mins with Australian Toby Price (KTM) third at over 31mins.

Barreda picks up his 14th overall stage win on the race and would have been higher up the rankings had he not lost more than four hours with mechanical problems on the stage to Chile´s Pacific Coast on Monday.

Coma´s Austrian KTM team are now just two days from the arrival in Buenos Aires and a 14th consecutive triumph in the gruelling event. (AFP)