Al-Attiyah fought for the win during the sixth stage to San Juan de Marcona but his place in the overall classification was more important in the end. With a few tough stages yet to come, the Qatari gained time on his biggest rival and that puts him in a good place with still four days to go.

Giniel de Villiers had a solid day on Sunday. The South African was in contention for a top-five all the way, but navigational difficulties made the life of a lot of competitors hard. De Villiers and co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz found their way through and finished in eighth place. Bernhard ten Brinke faced the same challenges as Giniel de Villiers and ended his day in ninth place.

Mammoet Rallysport

Janus van Kasteren, the lone driver of the Mammoet Rallysport formation, had a tough start of the second part of the race. He finished in 14th place on a long and gruelling stage six.

Riwald Dakar Team

Gert Huzink and Ed Wigman restarted their Dakar Rally’s in the half marathon class. Both had long days behind the steering wheel, but reached the finish eventually.