MOTORSPORT: Toyota the sole challenger to MINI

MINI driver Nasser Al-Attiyah stretched his lead in the Dakar Rally in South America on the fourth day, while three Toyota Hiluxes are now his main opposition, now that Carlos Sainz has dropped out of contention.

Sainz's two-wheel-drive diesel Peugeot 2008 DKR stopped for several hours just 30km into the latest stage, the first in Chile.

Teammate Stephane Peterhansel led the stage at the fifth control point, suffered a flat tyre after a huge jump but still finished within six minutes of winner and overall leader Al-Attiyah.

However, the Peugeot challenge looks shot, with Frenchman Peterhansel almost 80 minutes behind Qatari Al-Attiyah, Spaniard Sainz out of the running now and Frenchman Cyril Depres making his four-wheel debut after his great success on motorcycles.

South Africa's Giniel De Villiers remains closest to Al-Attiyah, although the gap widened again by about three minutes to eight minutes at the end of the fourth stage, on which the field set off from Chilecito in Argentina and ventured through sand dunes to end up at Copiado in Chile.

Two other Toyota drivers – Saudi Arabia's Dakar rookie Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke – are third and fourth as the field heads towards the Chilean coast.

Two more all-wheel-drive MINIs are fifth and sixth.

The Toyota Hiluxes driven by Australians Geoff Olholm and Czech-born Peter Jerie were 16th and 30th on stage four and are 35th and 43rd overall in the cars category.

Olholm, from Cairns, reported on Facebook that the 315km special stage had been "a great one" for his Coconut Car Racing Team – "only 23 minutes behind the time set by leader Nasser Al-Attiyah".

The Australian starring in the motorcycle category, Toby Price, slipped one place to seventh in the two-wheel classifications due to finishing 16th on stage four after two days of top fives aboard his KTM.

"Straight up this morning I got lost following the crest of a hill. I thought I was on the right track but obviously I wasn't, so I lost a bit of time there," Price said.

"It's all a learning curve. I knew today would be a little worse results because of the conditions, but all in all I'm at the finish.

"I can take a few points from today, learn from them and know where I went wrong."

Back with the Aussies in the car classifications are American Robbie Gordon, who lost another hour on day four and is 38th in his Hummer-powered Gordini buggy, and last year's Dakar winner, Spaniard Nani Roma.

Roma's hopes of a repeat victory foundered early on the first stage when he lost several hours after an oil-pump failure on his MINI but he finished second to Al-Attiyah on the fourth stage, improving from 55th to 42nd outright.

Argentina's MINI driver Orlando Terranova is out of overall contention too now, after winning the first stage – following a penalty on Al-Atiiyah – and the third.

Terranova stopped less than a quarter of the way into stage four.

Terranova and Sainz had stood third and fourth in the event the previous night.

Leader Al-Attiyah said day four had been "good for us" and he would "keep doing things this way – driving cautiously and attacking every now and then".

"We went a bit harder on the dunes towards the end of the stage," Al-Attiyah said.

"Giniel's the man to beat, he's always very consistent in the Dakar, always near the top, so putting three minutes into him is great.

"Yesterday we took things easier and today we attacked a bit. This gives us some margin to kick back a little tomorrow."

De Villiers said he has "usually had good stages in Chile" and "everything's going fine ...  we need to stay on this path".

Peterhansel, an 11-time winner of the Dakar on two wheels and four, said it was "not half bad" that his new Peugeot had survived as far as it had, but he admitted he needed to stop making mistakes.

He said "the entire front of the frame appeared to be damaged" after his big jump that went wrong on stage four.

"I jumped over a two or three-metre bump and slammed into the floor nose-first ... I picked the wrong trajectory!" Peterhansel said.

"When you try to gain a few metres in a turn you can end up facing an obstacle, and I had no choice but to jump over it.

"We were driving fast, caught up with Nani [Roma, who denied him victory last year] and then had a flat tyre 40 kilometres from here [Copiado].

"On paper, this terrain should be more interesting for us, but we need to stop messing things up.

"I messed up the second day and I did it again today. Jumping over a big bump like I did today is not exactly a stroke of genius."