Peterhansel nears victory despite engine problem

Stephane Peterhansel seemed to have victory in the Dakar Rally in his sights yesterday but was determined to remain cautious.

The Mitsubishi driver had an overall lead of 20 minutes on team-mate Luc Alphand heading into today's 10th stage. Alphand beat Peterhansel by just over a minute on Saturday's 361-kilometre special between Tidjikja and Atar, to narrow the gap on the leader.

Peterhansel said he took it steady towards the end of stage nine as he had fears for the engine in his Mitsubishi Pajero Evo. "Forty kilometres before the end of the stage, the engine made a very strange noise so I drove very carefully and slowly until the finish line to take care of the car," the Frenchman said.

"Then, to be sure not to take any risks, we preferred to be towed by Hiroshi [Masuoka] on the two last kilometres to the bivouac. I was a bit anxious, because I wasn't sure the engine wasn't going to blow up."