MADRID, Dec 31 - Belgian Gregoire de Mevius led the Dakar Rally south towards Africa and the Sahara desert Monday after sliding through a muddy quagmire in the last European stage.
The six km stage near Madrid, on land earmarked for the city’s 2012 Olympic bid, was the only timed action on the fourth day before the cars, trucks and motorcycles were due to reach Morocco by late night ferry.
Spaniard Fernando Gil, winner of Friday’s equally boggy opening special stage in France, was quickest in his Seat in conditions that forced organisers to cancel a stage for the trucks for the second time in three days.
Gil’s success in the car category lifted him back up to second place overall after the 1,000 kms trek through his homeland.
De Mevius had a 14 second lead over Gil while France’s Stephane Peterhansel was third and 57 seconds adrift in his Mitsubishi.
Defending champion Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first woman to win the Dakar rally, was sixth overall with a minute and 16 seconds to catch up.
Spaniard Joan Roma, riding a KTM, led the motorcycle riders by an 11 second margin over France’s Cyril Despres.
The big loser was France’s Jean-Louis Schlesser, winner in 1999 and 2000, whose Renault-powered diesel Buggy again struggled and was overtaken during the stage by the later-starting Kleinschmidt.
Schlesser could look forward to the dunes and sandstorms more than most after languishing 24th overall, six minutes and 24 seconds behind the leader’s Nissan.”
Fourth stage results/standings 1. Fernando Gil (Spain) Seat 5 minutes 48 seconds 2. Klever Kolberg (Brazil) Mitsubishi 7 seconds behind 3. Bruno Saby (France) Ford 26 4. Gianni Lora Lamia (Italy) Mitsubishi 41 5. Manuel Plaza Perez (Spain) Nissan 47 6. Emiel Lathouwers (Belgium) Toyota 49 7. Lekavicius Arunas (Lithuania) Toyota 52 8. Mark Round (Britain) Rover 58 9. Mark Miller (U.S.) Toyota 1:01 10. Marc Joineau (France) Joineau 1:02
Leading overall standings: 1. Gregoire De Mevius (Belgium) Nissan 39:42 2. Gil 14 3. Stephane Peterhansel (France) Nissan 57 4. Carlos Sousa (Portugal) Mitsubishi 59 5. Hiroshi Masouka (Japan) Mitsubishi 1:04 6. Jutta Kleinschmidt (Germany) Mitsubishi 1:16 7. Jean Pierre Fontenay (France) Mitsubishi 1:17 8. Kenjiro Shinozuka (Japan) Mitsubishi 1:50 9. Jose Maria Servia (Spain) Schlesser 3:00 10. Saeed Al Hajri (Qatar) Mitsubishi 3:34
Motorcycles: 1. Joan Roma (Spain) KTM 5 minutes 29 seconds 2. Kari Tianen (Finland) KTM 9 seconds behind 3. Cyril Despres (France) KTM 11 4. Isidre Esteve Pujol (Spain) KTM 14 5. Eric Verhoef (Netherlands) KTM 20
Leading overall standings: 1. Roma 38:07 2. Despres 11 3. Tianen 30 4. Richard Sainct (France) KTM 53 5. Esteve Pujol 1:35—Reuters