Al-Attiyah, Barreda Win; Sonik Back on Point

Two class leaders won stage four while there was another lead change in the quad class as the Dakar Rally heads from Argentina to Chile.

Nasser Al-Attiyah won stage four of the 2015 Dakar Rally, his second of the rally. The Qatari won by two minutes and 40 seconds over his Mini teammate Nani Roma. The Toyotas of Giniel de Villiers and Yazeed Al-Rajhi came home behind the Minis with the South African finishing two minutes and 57 seconds after Al-Attiyah and the Saudi coming home three minutes and 25 seconds after the Qatari. Stéphane Peterhansel rounded out the top five on the stage, five minutes and 48 seconds back.

Al-Attiyah still leads overall, eight minutes and 15 seconds ahead of de Villiers. Alrahji is third, 23 minutes and 33 seconds back with Bernhard Ten Brinke making it three consecutive Toyotas in the overall classifications with the Dutchman 42 minutes and 32 seconds back. Krzysztof Hołowczyc rounds out the top five, 43 minutes and 30 seconds behind his fellow Mini driver. Robby Gordon finished an hour and 23 minutes after Al-Attiyah.

Peterhansel is currently 12th, nearly an hour and 19 minutes back while Gordon is five hours and 47 minutes back. Roma trails by nine hours and 17 minutes.

Notable drivers yet to finish in the car class are stage one and three winners Orlanda Terranova and Carlos Sainz.

Honda's Joan Barreda won his second stage of the 2015 Dakar by a minute and 59 seconds over KTM's Marc Coma. Chilean Pablo Quintanilla finished third on stage four, two minutes and 49 seconds after Barreda. Jordi Viladoms and Ruben Faria made it four KTMs in the top five with the Spaniard finishing ten minutes and 44 seconds back and the Portuguese rider finishing 11 seconds after Viladoms.

Alain Duclos finished seventh, 12 minutes and 51 seconds back of Barreda. The Portuguese Honda riders Paulo Gonçalves and Hélder Rodrigues had a rough fourth stage with Gonçalves finishing 12th, nearly 15 minutes after Barreda and Rodrigues finishing 18th, just over 20 and a half minutes after Barreda. Stage three winner, Matthias Walkner finished 22nd, 22 minutes and 55 seconds back. Yamaha rider Olivier Pain finished 24th, 25 minutes after Barreda.

Barreda extended is overall lead to 12 minutes and 49 seconds over Coma. Gonçalves is third, 20 minutes and 29 seconds back with Faria trailing by 23 minutes and five seconds. Viladoms rounds out the top five, 24 minutes and 51 seconds behind Barreda. Quintanilla is sixth, a half hour and 42 seconds back. Australian Toby Price trails Quintanilla by 23 seconds. Walkner is eighth is 33 minutes and 28 seconds back with Duclos and Rodrigues rounding out the top ten. Then Frenchman is 36 minutes and 31 seconds back with Rodrigues 39 minutes and five seconds back.

Pain is 20th, nearly one hour and three minutes back.

After losing the quad lead after a 15-minute penalty, Rafał Sonik retook the lead by winning stage four by three minutes and 26 seconds over Ignacio Casale, who had a 20-minute penalty added to his overall time. Mohammad Abu-Issa finished third, nearly ten minutes after Casale. Quad leader entering stage four, Sergio Lafuente finished fourth, 40 seconds behind Abu-Issa. Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli rounded out the top five for stage four, finishing over 21 minutes after Sonik.

Sonik holds the overall quad lead by three minutes and 49 seconds over Lafuente. Casale is 13 minutes and 32 seconds back in third with Abu-Issa 19 minutes and 47 seconds back. Sebastian Halpern trails by 59 minutes and 47 seconds, fifth overall. Halpern finished 15th, over an hour after Sonik on stage four.

Andrey Karginov made it four different stage winners in the truck class in as many stages. The Russian won by three seconds over fellow Kamaz driver Eduard Nikolaev. Airat Mardeev finished third, six minutes and 13 seconds after Karginov for a Kamaz sweep of the podium. Aleš Loprais finished 11 minutes back in fourth with Hans Stacey rounding out the top five, 29 seconds after the Czech driver.

Mardeev retains the truck lead after stage four but the gap is now only a minute and 45 seconds to Karginov. Nikolaev is a minute and 57 seconds back with Loprais 12 minutes and 42 seconds back. Stacey rounds out the top five, 17 minutes and 58 seconds back.

Stage five, the first stage to take place entirely in Chile, will head from Copiapo to Antofagasta.