Carlos Sainz placed third on the eleventh stage of Dakar 2020, keeping him some ten minutes ahead of Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah as the end of the race nears.

Stephane Peterhansel won on the day (the 80th stage win of his career), ending a mere 10 seconds ahead of Al-Attiyah. The route, which took drivers from Shubayatah back to Haradh, features unbroken sections of dunes stretching for 80 km. Thankfully for competitors, the wind from the previous stage had died down.

Pierre Lachaume, who finished in fourth place in the previous stage, was set back after rolling his Peugeot 2008 DKR some 236 km into the special, resulting in a DNF classification. Giniel de Villiers and Bernhard ten Brinke moved up to sixth and seventh place respectively in the overall standings but there's still quite a gap between them and Toyota Overdrive racer Yazeed Al-Rajhi in fourth.

Fernando Alonso fought back hard in his Toyota Hilux after rolling on the previous stage. He secured an eighth-place finish on the day, moving him to 13th in the overall standings.

Stage 11 results:

1. Peterhansel (Mini)
2. Al-Attiyah (Toyota): +00:10
3. Sainz (Mini): +08:03
4. Ten Brinke (Toyota): +10:14
5. Przygonski (Mini): +10:39
6. De Villiers (Toyota): +12:14
7. Al Rajhi (Toyota): +15:14
8. Alonso (Toyota): +16:25
9. Han (Geely): +18:53
10. Terranova (Mini): +23:19

Overall standings:

1. Sainz (Mini)
2. Al-Attiyah (Toyota): +10:17
3. Peterhansel (Mini): +10:23
4. Al Rajhi (Toyota): +47:57
5. De Villiers (Toyota): +01:06:34
6. Terranova (Mini): +01:12:55
7. Ten Brinke (Toyota): +01:17:50
8. Serradori (SRT): +01:57:32
9. Seaidan (Mini): +03:44:41
10. Han (Geely): +03:45:07

Original article from Car