MOTORSPORT: Three makes fight in Dakar

Three days into the Dakar Rally in South America MINIs have won every stage, but the top Toyota Hilux and Peugeot 2008 DKR have narrowed the gap.

Qatar's 2011 Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah has been fastest on two of the stages and Argentina's Orlando Terranova was fastest on the third stage overnight. Terranova was also awarded the first stage win after Al-Attiyah was penalised two minutes for a speeding infringement in a restricted area.

South African Giniel de Villiers in a Toyota trailed Al-Attiyah by 7 minutes 42 seconds outright after day two, but narrowed that to 5 minutes 18 seconds on day three.

Terranova is third overall, a little more than 18 minutes behind Al-Attiyah. He rolled four times towards the end of the second stage and lost more than 20 minutes, which had dropped him to 10th.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz has done best of the high-profile stars in the new two-wheel-drive diesel Peugeots.

Sainz has improved from seventh overall and more than 20½ minutes off the lead after two days to fourth and little more than 19½ minutes behind Al-Attiyah now, after having been 12 seconds faster than the Qatari on the third stage.

France's "Monsieur Dakar", Stephane Peterhansel, an 11-time Dakar winner on two and four wheels, Spain's winner last year, Nani Roma, and American Robby Gordon have been in the wars in Argentina.

Peterhansel lost more than an hour on day two when his Peugeot hit a tree stump, broke a steering arm and then was reluctant to restart. That dropped him to 22nd but he is now back up to 16th with 10 days remaining.

After the oil-pump failure in his MINI on day one Roma is 55th and nine hours off the lead, although he was sixth-fastest on the third stage.

Gordon's Gordini-Hummer encountered brake problems throughout day two and has dropped to 40th after being classified second on day one following Al-Attiyah's penalty.

The bikes and cars took a slightly different route on day three, between San Juan and Chilecito, close to the Chilean border which the field – also including trucks and quads – will cross tonight, Australian time, as it heads into the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth.

Australian bike rider Toby Price, making his Dakar debut, has been fifth and fourth the past two days in his category aboard a KTM and is an excellent sixth outright among the two-wheelers.

Price said the first part of the third stage was fast and open and the navigation "easy", although he knows the event will get much tougher.

"If all the Dakar was like this I wouldn't have any dramas, but I'm still struggling a bit with the road book definitions," Price said.

"At this stage I definitely couldn't lead a stage, but hopefully by the end of next week we might be able to do that.

"Once we get into the desert it's game on and a lot of hard work. My pace might drop off a bit, but hopefully by the end of next week we can pick it up again."

Another rookie on a KTM, Poland’s Michal Hernik, was mysteriously found dead on the third stage, 300 metres off the course and with no signs of an accident.

In the cars category, the Australians driving Toyota Hiluxes with French co-drivers, Geoff Olholm and Peter Jerie, are 47th and 56th outright respectively.

Olholm, of Cairns, was the top privateer finisher in Dakar two years ago in 11th place.

West Australian Adrian Di Lallo and Bruce Garland's long-time co-driver Harry Suzuki failed to make the start of the third stage in their Isuzu MU-X, after stopping 80km short on the long second stage and spending a night sleeping under the stars in the Pampa de las Salinas.

The rest of the field is two days away from the Chilean coast and will then head north for a rest day at Iquique and then into Bolivia and back into Argentina for the finish in Buenos Aires on January 17.

Stage 4 - Inside Dakar 2015 - Fech fech