Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret won stage 6 of the 2016 Dakar from team mates Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz who were just 17 seconds behind. Overnight leaders Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena finished off the podium for the first time this week, coming home in fourth place behind the Toyota of Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk.
Next up was a quartet of MINIs led by Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel. They were followed by Nani Roma and Alex Haro Bravo with Orlando Terranova and Bernardo Graue in seventh and Mikki Hirvonen and Michel Perin in eighth.
The first South African home was Geniel de Villiers with his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz in their Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux. They ended the stage in ninth. Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie lost a considerable amount of time towards the end of the stage when they had a gentle roll, eventually crossing the line in fifteenth for the day after de Villiers had stopped to help them get back onto their wheels.
The other South Africans in the car category had mixed fortunes on the day. Corbett and Mohr came home in 27th while Matthews and Burke had to settle for 45th. Reitz and Greyling, who had been moving steadily up the order, suffered brake problems early in the stage which slowed them considerably. The eventually made it to the finish in 64th place.
311 Burns
Bernhard Ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul’s 2016 Dakar came to a premature end when their Overdrive Toyota Hilux caught fire while they were running in the top ten on the stage.
In the overall ranking it is still a Peugeot 1-2-3 but Peterhansel and Cottret have moved ahead of Loeb and Elena, albeit by just 27 seconds. Sainz and Cruz remain in third. Al Attiyah and Baumel stay in fourth while de Villiers and von Zitzewitz move up a spot to fifth.
Poulter and Howie have dropped down to seventh behind Hirvonen and Perin. Corbett and Mohr are in 34th with the other Century CR5 of Matthews and Burke in 42nd. Despite their brake problems, Reitz and Greyling moved up one spot on the day to 50th.
