Stephane Peterhansel has dominated the penultimate day of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge as many of the crews hit trouble on the unpredictable dunes.
In the longest day of the event the 13-time Dakar Rally winner extended his lead to 18 minutes and 35 seconds, taking the stage win in the process.
Khalid Al Qassimi moved into second position after Bernhard Ten Brinke rolled twice and had to pull out of the stage.
In the soft sand dunes Al Qassimi was hindered by the fact his Peugeot 3008 DKR is only two-wheel drive and he got stuck several times.
Aron Domzala charged through the field from sixth to third, setting the second fastest time of the day and taking advantage of the misfortune of other crews.
Vladimir Vasilyev sits in fourth after a relatively trouble-free day, ahead of leading T3 category driver Reinaldo Varela who now has a 43 second advantage over his rival Casey Currie.
Martin Prokop dropped almost two hours with various problems but stays ahead of eighth-placed Cyril Despres who lost time donating parts to Jakob Przgonski.
Reigning champion Przgonski stopped with mechanical issues at the start of the stage and was unable to continue.
Yazeed Al Rajhi was unable to restart after Tuesday’s problems.
