De Villiers gains Dakar advantage

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South Africa's Giniel De Villiers took the lead in the cars race of the Dakar Rally after winning Friday's 542km seventh stage between Zouerat and Atar.

De Villiers finished almost five minutes ahead of previous leader Carlos Sainz of Spain.

The result puts him one minute and 39 seconds ahead of the former world rally champion in the overall standings.

Frenchman Cyril Despres won the motorbike stage which was shortened because of a sand storm.

Despres finished ahead of Norwegian Pal Anders Ullevalster and David Casteu of France.

Meanwhile, Portugal's Carlos Sousa, who lost and later found his co-pilot in the middle of the desert in Mauritania during Friday's stage, said he now had no hope of making it to the podium.

Sousa finished ninth at the end of the seventh stage after starting in third place, having lost German team-mate Andreas Shulz when the co-pilot pushed their car off a sand dune.

"There was a sand storm, visibility was low, and after I took off from the dune I looked back and no longer saw him," said Sousa.

The driver said he circled the area for an hour before spotting Schulz again.

"We were both completely drained when we found each other. Now my dreams of reaching the podium are gone," he added.

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Stage seven results

Cars: 1. Giniel De Villiers (Rsa) Volkswagen 4hrs 00mins 46secs 2. Stephane Peterhansel (Fra) Mitsubishi 4:03:32 3. Carols Sainz (Spa) Volkswagen 4:05:36 4. Hiroshi Masuoka (Jpn) Mitsubishi 4:11:04 5. Nasser saleh Al Attiyah (Qat) BMW 4:12:30 6. Luc Alphand (Fra) Mitsubishi 4:13:55 7. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Pol) Nissan 4:38:07 8. Bernard Errandonea (Fra) Buggy 4:39:31 9. Jean-Louis Schlesser (Fra) Schles-Ford-Raid 4:47:16 10. Pascal Thomasse (Fra) Buggy 4:50:20

Bikes: 1. Cyril Despres (Fra) KTM 4hrs 30mins 42secs 2. Pal Anders Ullevalseter (Nor) KTM 4:33:28 3. David Casteu (Fra) KTM 4:35:18 4. Giovanni Sala (Ita) KTM 4:39:29 5. Isidre Esteve Pujol (Spa) KTM 4:41:44

Leading Overall Positions

Cars1. Giniel De Villiers (Rsa) Volkswagen 20hrs 04mins 01secs 2. Carlos Sainz (Spa) Volkswagen 20:05:40 3. Stephane Peterhansel (Fra) Mitsubishi 20:28:39 4. Luc Alphand (Fra) Mitsubishi 20:37:54 5. Hiroshi Masuoka (Jpn) Mitsubishi 21:15:31 6. Jean-Louis Schlesser (Fra) Schles-Ford-Raid 21:16:10 7. Nasser saleh Al Attiyah (Qat) BMW 21:36:06 8. Mark Miller (USA) Volkswagen 21:54:40 9. Carlos Sousa (Por) Volkswagen 22:42:27 10. Jose Luis Monterde (Spa) BMW 24:07:52

Bikes: 1. Marc Coma (Spa) KTM 22hrs 38mins 34secs 2. Isidre Esteve Pujol (Spa) KTM 22:49:21 3. David Casteu (Fra) KTM 23:15:27 4. Cyril Despres (Fra) KTM 23:23:30 5. Chris Blais (USA) KTM 23:44:45