Spaniards Rule the Dakar.

Spain's Marc Coma rides his KTM during the seventh stage of the South American edition of the Dakar 2009 from Mendoza to Valparaiso. Reuter Photo:

Friday January 09, 09: With Carlos Sainz in the overall lead of the Rally in the BMW [CAR], fellow Spaniard Marc Coma continues to hold the lead in the Bike category, Coma finished second today on stage 7, 3:57 off the pace of stage winner Chilean Francisco Lopez (KTM). This is the first stage victory for Lopez. Frances Cyril Despres [KTM] rounded out the top three. The amazing ride of American privateer Jonah Street continues, although Jonah only managed 6th overall today he is still in second overall. At this point Jonah really needs to focus on holding his position as Coma is 51:22 ahead, while Franchmen David Fretigne is looking to spoil the party for KTM, pushing his Yamaha WRF450 to within one minute of Street.
Tomorrow is going to be a much needed rest day for the driver and riders, before tackling the final eight stages.

"El Matador" Sainz has retaken the lead in Dakar 2009

Friday January 09,09: With the disqualification of Nasser Al-Attiyah, and a stage victory today on stage 7, Spain’s Carlos Saniz retakes the lead in the 2009 Dakar rally.
BMW’s Al-Attiyah who had been leading was disqualified last night for missing three control points yesterday, after navigating his overheating BMW around the sand dunes in a bid to get back to service.
Down as far as third place on Wednesday Saniz charged ahead today on Stage 7 in his Diesel powered VW Touareg, to retake the lead as he crossed the border from Argentina into Chile.
"The stage went well," said Sainz. "It was a pretty tough stage, even with some mud patches and puddles that were very slippery, pretty tough, at the moment everything is going fine for the team." In the overall standings Giniel De Villiers has slotted in behind Saniz for second, despite his 6th place finish on todays stage 7..
Leading the charge for the USA is Marc Miller also in a VW, who finished 2nd behind team mate Saniz today and moves to third overall, making it a 1,2,3 for the VW Red Bull team. Despite a roll yesterday in his Hummer, Robby Gordon managed to take 3rd today and is sitting forth overall, Robby is over an hour off the pace of Saniz, nonetheless Gordon is clearly in the lead in the open class.
Stéphane Peterhansel again suffered problems today. After a fire in the engine of his Mitsubishi Racing Lancer, the Frenchman has now lost all chance of grabbing a 10th victory on his 20th Dakar.
Stage 7 results:
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Sainz Volkswagen 2h35:27
2. Miller Volkswagen + 03:41
3. Gordon Hummer + 04:13
4. Roma Mitsubishi + 05:37
5. Chicherit BMW + 06:08
6. De Villiers Volkswagen + 07:48
7. Vigouroux Hummer + 11:30
8. Holowczyc Nissan + 13:56
9. Novitskiy BMW + 19:40
10. Van Deijne Mitsubishi + 20:29

By Neil McDaid / sources Dakar.com /REUTERS Photo