COPIAPO (Chile), Jan 12: Carlos Sainz of Volkswagen won the ninth stage of the cars section of the Dakar Rally on Tuesday, a 235km special around Copiapo in northern Chile.

The defending champion’s victory saw him close in on overall leader and teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, who finished second, despite a puncture, ending a run of two successive stage wins.

Sainz, the defending champion, trimmed 1min 56sec off Al-Attiyah’s lead to close the gap to 3min 18sec and said he was delighted to have won a stage that he hadn’t felt was one he would enjoy.

American rider Jonah Street won the ninth stage in the motorcycling category.

The Yamaha rider finished the 235 kilometres special stage over three-and-a-half minutes ahead of Dutchman Frans Verhoeven on a BMW.—AFP