France's Peterhansel takes overall lead in Dakar in Mini

AFP - France's Dakar Rally legend Stephane Peterhansel took the overall lead in the car section here on Wednesday after winning the fourth stage, a 326km special from San Juan to here.

The 46-year-old Mini driver - a six-time Dakar motorcycling champion and three time car winner - had endured a miserable day on Tuesday when he had suffered two punctures but on Wednesday it was the turn of Qatar's defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah to have a nightmare.

The 31-year-old's Hummer broke down after 288km of the stage and only got going again after a 15 minute stop.

While he fumed Peterhansel came in 5min 19sec ahead of Argentinian driver Orlando Terranova while the latter's fellow Toyota driver experienced South African Giniel De Villiers was third 6min 42sec adrift.

Defending motorcycling champion Marc Coma had earlier won their stage, rebounding from a poor day on Tuesday when he had lost the overall lead.

The 35-year-old KTM rider came in 2min 02sec ahead of main rival and team-mate Cyril Despres of France, who retained the overall lead with an advantage of 8min 10sec over the Spaniard.

Dutchman Frans Verhoeven, riding for Sherco, was third, over eight minutes off the pace, after finishing second in Tuesday's stage.

Coma had led three-time motorcycling champion Despres by over two minutes, but fell 10 minutes behind him on Tuesday after he took the wrong route.