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Stage report

Dakar 2017, Stage 11: Peterhansel halts Loeb charge as 13th win looms

Stephane Peterhansel took a major step towards a 13th Dakar Rally win as he preserved most of his lead over Sebastien Loeb heading into the final day.

#300 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret

#300 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret

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Stéphane Peterhansel, Cyril Despres, Peugeot Sport
#309 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#309 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
Stéphane Peterhansel, Peugeot Sport
#309 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#309 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena
#300 Peugeot Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
#300 Team Peugeot Sport, Peugeot 3008 DKR: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret
Nani Roma, Overdrive Racing Toyota, Stéphane Peterhansel, Peugeot Sport
#300 Team Peugeot Sport, Peugeot 3008 DKR: Stéphane Peterhansel, Jean-Paul Cottret

Loeb was the winner of the rally's penultimate stage, recording his fourth stage win of his second Dakar. But the bulk of Peugeot teammate Peterhansel's advantage remains heading into the final 64km timed stage.

Friday's San Juan-Rio Cuarto stage featured a 292km timed section, with the rally's final off-road challenges coming in the first part and WRC-style fast tracks making up the second, split by a lengthy neutralised zone.

Loeb entered the day 5m50s behind Peterhansel, after his teammate was given time back on Thursday's stage following his incident with bike class competitor Simon Marcic.

Over the first part of the stage, Loeb – who started three minutes behind Peterhansel on the road – made significant inroads, cutting the gap in half as he arrived to the neutralised zone four seconds behind his teammate.

But Peterhansel regained ground in the second part, and by the end of the stage, Loeb's winning margin had been cut to just 18 seconds.

Loeb's final chance to deny Peterhansel his 13th Dakar win – and his seventh in cars – will be on Saturday's 64km looping timed special near Rio Cuarto, before the rally heads to Buenos Aires for the podium ceremonies.

The nine-time WRC champion will need to make up 5m32s.

Peugeot's third driver Cyril Despres has all but secured a spot on the podium, finishing the stage seven minutes adrift of Loeb, and will start the final test 32 minutes adrift of his teammate.

Nani Roma (Toyota) remains best of the non-Peugeot drivers in fourth, while Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) and Orlando Terranova (Mini) head into the final day split by two minutes in the fight for fifth.

Cars standings after Stage 11:

Pos.Driver/NavigatorCarTime/Gap
1

 Stephane Peterhansel

 Jean-Paul Cottret

Peugeot 28h20m16s
2

 Sebastien Loeb

 Daniel Elena

Peugeot +5m32s
3

 Cyril Despres

 David Castera

Peugeot +32m54s
4

 Nani Roma

 Alex Haro

Toyota +1h15m41s
5

 Giniel de Villiers

 Dirk von Zitzewitz

Toyota +1h49m37s
6

 Orlando Terranova

 Andreas Schulz

Mini +1h51m40s
7

 Kuba Przygonski

 Tom Colsoul

Mini +4h12m58s
8

 Romain Dumas

 Alain Guehennec

Peugeot +4h22m42s
9

 Conrad Rautenbach

 Robert Howie

Toyota +4h39m32s
10

 Mohammed Abu-Issa

 Xavier Panseri

Mini +4h50m50s

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