The 34th edition of the Dakar Rally got underway in Lima, Peru last Saturday with 459 drivers and teams contesting the punishing 8,500-kilometer endurance race.

The first stage saw the participants tackle the 250-kilometer stretch between Lima to Pisco, followed by a 13-kilometer special stage around the coastal city.

Reigning champion Stephane Peterhansel will be attempting to win his 11th Dakar title with compatriot Cyril Despres looking to win his fifth motorcycle title.

During the first stage from Lima to Pisco, Chile’s Francesco Lopez won the bike category with Despres coming home in 5th. Yamaha rider Frans Verhoeven finished in second place, one second behind Lopez.

Carlos Sainz won the first stage of the car event followed by Argentinia’s Lucio Alvarez in second place. Peterhansel finished the stage in eighth place, 34 seconds behind Sainz.

During the second day, Peterhansel got into the groove and claimed first overall position. Peterhansel and the X-raid Team gained momentum for the difficult and challenging 240-kilometer stage.

The record-setting Dakar winner and defending champion took the lead in the third section of the stage – one characterized by extended dune ranges – before stretching it to 2:30 minutes over second-placed driver Giniel de Villiers.

While Peterhansel found an almost perfect way to the stage finish, Sainz, who dominated on Saturday, failed to do likewise. By the end of the day he had dropped down to 11th place overall. Lucio Alvarez in a Toyota and Nasser Al-Attiyah in a powerful buggy, who had laid second and third places respectively on Saturday, also lost a lot of time and correspondingly slid down the order.

During the third day, Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Lucas Cruz produced a superb display to clinch the 3rd stage of the Dakar rally from Pisco to Nazca.

The former champion’s time was 1 minute and 18 seconds faster than Robby Gordon’s Hummer and 3 minutes and 52 seconds clear of France’s Stephen Peterhansel.

This result sees Peterhansel lead Al-Attiyah by 6 minutes and 33 seconds in the overall standings, with Overdrive Toyota’s Lucio Alvarez and X-raid’s Leonid Novitskiy third and fourth respectively.

In the bike category, KTM’s Chaleco Lopez held his nerve to edge out Husqvarna’s Paulo Goncalves and claim the third stage in a time of two hours 37 minutes and 54 seconds.

France’s Cyril Despres was third, four minutes and eight seconds back and now leads Lopez in the overall standings by two minutes and 51 seconds.