Second stage success for Sainz, Despres
- Source: Global Times
- [08:37 January 05 2011]
- Comments
China's Zhou Yong in stage two Photo: Courtesy of Great Wall
Defending champion Carlos Sainz of Spain added a second stage win in as many days Tuesday in Argentina, dominating the 324km special stage from Cordoba to San Miguel de Tucuman.
The Volkswagen driver crossed the line with a 1 minute 03 seconds advantage over Qatari teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, with French veteran and multiple champion Stephane Peterhansel 1 minute 34 seconds adrift in his BMW.
Double rally world champion Sainz moved his overall lead over Peterhansel to 3:05 with last year's runner-up Al- Attiyah third at 3:19 as the drivers head for today's third stage - a 500km special from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy.
But the Spaniard lamented losing previous time because of windscreen wiper problems.
"They wouldn't work properly and for a dozen kilometers I couldn't see a thing and I had to drive very slowly," said Sainz.
Al Attiyah also suffered mechanical problems which resulted in him losing power over the final 100km.
"I don't know what's wrong, it was probably something to do with the water. We really need to fix it because I'm disappointed that we lost a lot of time," said the Qatari.
Peterhansel was nevertheless impressed by Sainz's form.
"It isn't easy to try to follow Sainz's pace. You can see that on these very technical stages, Carlos is slightly quicker than us and we'll perhaps have to wait until the desert to find a chink in his armor."
Veteran driver Lu Ningjun of China pulled out of the rally after he failed to finish the first stage by the deadline due to mechanical problems.
