Rallying-Loeb wins fifth Dakar stage, Al-Attiyah stays on top overall

Sebastien Loeb won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally in Peru on Friday while Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah extended his overall lead. Frenchman Loeb, a nine times world rally champion, beat Al-Attiyah by more than 10 minutes after the 519-km timed stage from Tacna to the city of Arequipa. It was Loeb's second stage victory of this year's edition, after he was also fastest on the second day, and moved him up to fifth overall but 40 minutes off the lead.

Twice Dakar winner Al-Attiyah, in a Toyota, increased his lead over second-placed Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, driving an X-raid Mini, to 24 minutes and 42 seconds with Spaniard Nani Roma third. Thirteen times champion Peterhansel finished fourth in the stage, 16 minutes behind the Qatari.

In the motorcycle category, Britain's Sam Sunderland won the stage and moved up to second overall behind American Ricky Brabec. Sunderland had finished down the order after losing more than 10 minutes because he stopped to help injured Honda rider Paulo Goncalves. The time was later adjusted to take that into consideration. The endurance rally, staged in South America since being switched from Africa in 2009 for security reasons, ends in Lima on Jan. 17. 

(With inputs from agencies.)