Sainz closer to Dakar victory

Carlos Sainz claimed victory on stage 12 of the Dakar Rally to move closer to overall victory.

The Spaniard won the San Juan to San Rafael stage by 52 seconds quicker from Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah, who remains his nearest rival, five minutes 20 seconds behind with two stages remaining.

Volkswagen occupies the top three places in the rankings, with American Mark Miller third, while BMW's Stephane Peterhansel is fourth and his team-mate Guerlain Chicherit, who won stage 11, is fifth.

After enduring a troubling day on Wednesday, Sainz recovered to move within sight of the top of the podium on Saturday.

Punctures saw the former world rally champion's lead cut from 10 minutes down to four-and-a-half, but he clawed some time back on Thursday.

Last year Sainz held a lead of more than half-an-hour at this point, only to crash out, but he had no such concerns this time.

Chile's Francisco Lopez Contardo took stage honours in the bike class and lies second behind France's Cyril Despres, who saw his lead trimmed from almost 81 minutes to 63.

Christophe Declerck of France won the quad category, which is led by Marcos Patronelli, while the winning truck category was Vladimir Chagin, who extended his overall lead to 73 minutes.