After a turbulent end to the first Dakar week, the Mini X-Raid Team made a promising start as the Dakar entered its decisive stage.

Stephane Peterhansel, driving the green Mini All4 Racing and teammates Nani Roma and Leonid Novitskiy returned to Dakar action visibly relaxed after the event’s rest day. Where Saturday’s stage was called off after heavy storms made the going unsafe, for the overall leader everything ran to plan.

After the Dakar organizers adjusted the times for Saturday’s stage, Stephane was declared leader with an advantage of 3:14 minutes over Qatar Red Bull Rally Team’s Nasser Al-Attiyah, who started the day in second place.

Immediately 10-time Dakar winner Stephane turned in competitive sector times while Al-Attiyah was forced to make numerous stops and lost quite some time in the overall classification.

Stephane sprinted to respectable sector times on the 593-kilometer, two-part Stage 9 which took the field to the 10th day’s finish point in Cordoba. By the end, Mini All4 Racing teammate Nani Roma proved fast enough to post the best time of day.

Al-Attiyah’s adventure however came to a premature end when he was unable to complete Stage Nine of the rally due to a broken water pump.

Stephane now faces a new competitor for P2 with Toyota Hi-Lux driver Giniel de Vielliers.

Leonid Novitskiy in the orange Mini made it three Mini drivers in the top five. Stephane is leading, with Leonid moving up to third overall and Nani to fourth.

Five stages totaling 1,460 competitive kilometers still remain for the X-raid Team before the Dakar entourage reaches the finish in Santiago de Chile on Saturday.