MOTORSPORT: Price right for Dakar triumph

Toby Price is even closer to ultimate Dakar Rally glory on his KTM motorcycle, now 35 minutes clear with just two days to go in the two-week marathon.

By Sunday morning Price will have lodged his claim, barring misfortune and barely halfway into January, to be Australia's sportsman of 2016, even in an Olympic year.

No Aussie at the Rio Olympics will have to compete for as long, in such extreme conditions and over some of the world's toughest terrain as the 28-year-old from NSW's Hunter Valley.

Price is set to become Australia's first outright winner of a Dakar, in just his second start in the torture test.

And this is a man who less than three years ago had a broken neck from a crash in the US.

Third on debut last year, he's a hero even if the unthinkable happens in the next 48 hours.

Price added another 10 minutes to his Dakar lead overnight on the 10th completed stage of the rally, from La Rioja to San Juan in Argentina, and is now almost 35½ minutes in front of second-placed Slovakian Stefan Svitko on another KTM.

But Price says he's not allowing himself to think of victory until he crosses the finish line in Rosario, Argentina's third largest city and hometown of Lionel Messi – this week acknowledged as the world's best footballer for the fifth time.

In the car category of the Dakar, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel remains almost 52 minutes in front and poised for his sixth victory on four wheels on top of the six he had on motorcycles.

Qatar's Nasser-Al-Attiyah, last year's cars winner, claimed his second stage victory of this year's event overnight in his four-wheel-drive MINI and is second to Peugeot-mounted Peterhansel, whose 2008 DKR Pug has only two-wheel-drive.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz was an official withdrawal before this stage after his woes of the previous day in another Peugeot.

Sebastien Loeb, France's nine-time world rally champion and a star of the Dakar on his debut but who dropped out of calculations for overall victory early this week, boxed on overnight in his Peugeot, having a great duel against countryman Peterhansel.

However, Loeb broke a transmission gimbal 2km from the end of the stage and had to be towed over the finish line by yet another Pug driven by yet another Frenchman, Cyril Depres.

Loeb was still classified second for the day, ahead of the MINI of another recent ex-WRC star, Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, with Peterhansel fourth – a little more than eight minutes behind stage winner Al-Attiyah.

South African Giniel de Villiers remains third overall in his Toyota HiLux, despite finishing only seventh on the latest stage. He trails Peterhansel by one hour 17 minutes and 24 seconds – and is a little more than five minutes ahead of fourth-placed Hirvonen.

Peterhansel was pleased to have simply "one more day finished".

"We started really safely. It was not easy because there was a lot of navigation, fesh-fesh [sand] and rios [riverbed vegetation]," said the man known as "Monsieur Dakar" and closing on an unmatched, almost unfathomable 12th Dakar success.

"At the end it was really narrow, like a labyrinth.

"It [outright victory] is never done [until the finish].

"If you have [a lead of] 10 minutes, two minutes or one hour and you have a big technical problem then you're stopped and it's finished for the overall victory.

"It's never over. I've had some good experiences like that, but also some bad experiences."

Al-Attiyah said the latest stage had been "very long and very hot".

"I was pushing all the way. I'm quite happy to win the stage," said the Qatari, who has known from early in the event that the MINI would struggle to match the Peugeots which have had a year of intense development since last year's debut.

"On the last 30km we broke the front drive shaft – we only had two wheels [driving the MINI].

"But it was good. The tyres are working very well and we didn't have any punctures ... nothing.

"The machine went really well here, but it's difficult."

Price controlled the pace in the bikes, following his main rivals early before turning it on over the second half of the stage – which again many competitors were freed from completing, on safety grounds, in the sweltering heat.

Portugal's Paulo Goncalves, an early challenger to Price in the rally on a Honda, was a withdrawal on this latest stage after a fall, while France's Antoine Meo on a KTM was 18 seconds faster than the Aussie on the day and could yet snatch second from Svitko.
Price said it had been "another good day – the most difficult part was how hot it was".

"We started third and at about the 180km mark we got on to the front and led the way," he said.

"On the last probably 50-80km it was starting to heat up really bad again ... just couldn't get any airflow.

"We're another day closer, but it's been a hard one.

"I can't smell victory yet, not yet. I won't smell victory until I cross the finishing line on the last day.

"It's been hard on the bikes today. There's been a lot of hot weather.

"My bike is still going really well – there's no water leaking or anything.

"It still feels strong, so we're in a good spot.

"Meo put in a good time today – he got the stage win and beat me by 18 seconds – but it's all good.

"We've made a bit of time on the overall second-placed rider [Svitko], which is our main goal, and hopefully the next two days we can take it a little bit easier."