Dakar Rally (Day 4): VW takes the lead

Fifth placed overall after the day was female German driver Jutta Kleinschmidt. "I've no complaints about fourth fastest time of the day, especially when you think just how difficult the navigation was and particularly as we also had to drive 60 kilometres in the dust cloud of the car in front. It was possible, but very risky to overtake,” she said.

Mitsubishi team mates Stéphane Peterhansel and Luc Alphand completed the stage in third and 11th places and now hold sixth and ninth in the overall classification. A former winner of the Dakar Rally motorcycle division, Roma and co-driver Henri Magne had begun the day in fourth place, before arriving in Er Rachidia as the overall leaders.

"I am very surprised and happy to be leading" said Roma. "I just tried to reach the finish without any mistakes. I had no real problems and I will continue with this strategy tomorrow - just drive and make no mistakes. It is dangerous to push in the dust. At one point there were 10 or 15 bikes together."

Today’s 314 kms stage offered a mixture of twisty gravel tracks, technical off-road sections, the occasional perilous wadi crossing and some navigation. It finished at Beni Tadjite, 121 kms from the overnight bivouac, adjacent to the small elevated airstrip at Er Rachidia.

Masuoka and French co-driver Maimon, with whom he won the Dakar Rally for the first time in 2002, held third overall through the opening passage control at the 122 kms point this morning, but were the first car across the finish line after starting sixth on the road.

"Today there was a lot of dust," said Masuoka. "We drove for about 200 kms with Carlos (Sainz), Luc and (Nasser) Al-Attiyah. Then I overtook Luc, Carlos lost his way a little and I was in second position. Then I overtook Nasser and was first at the end of the stage. There were many motorcycles."

Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret entered Africa in 10th position in the overall standings and rose to sixth place. "Today’s stage was difficult with the number of bikes and cars running closely together," said Peterhansel. "I kept my distance to avoid the dust and to avoid having any problems in some big holes in the rocky tracks."

Alphand and co-driver Gilles Picard began the first African stage behind the early leader Carlos Sainz, but slipped to ninth in the results after losing time in rivals’ dust.

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