Al-Attiyah extends his Dakar lead with two stages remaining

Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel in the Qatar Rally Team Mini All4 Racing won the tenth and eleventh stages of the 2015 Dakar rally, extending their overall lead with two stages remaining. Stage ten ran from Calama, Chile to Salta, Argentina, and stage eleven ran from Salta to Termas Rio Hondo, Argentina.

Al-Attiyah now leads second place Gineil De Villiers in a Toyota Hilux by 29 minutes. Toyota’s Yazeed Al-Rahji, who was running third on his first-ever Dakar, had a major mechanical problem on stage eleven that took him out of contention. His setback moved Monster Energy Mini’s Krzysztof Holowczyc into third.

The rally ends on Saturday, January 17 in Buenos Aires.—Brian S. Morgan