Dakar: Terranova leads, Al-Attiyah penalized

Orlando Terranova was elevated into the Dakar Rally lead on Sunday evening after a penalty for his X-raid Mini teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Al-Attiyah had won Sunday's Buenos Aires to Villa Carlos Paz opener by 22 seconds over Terranova, but was clocked at 68km/h in a section where a 50km/h limit applied. The Qatari driver was given a two-minute penalty, dropping him to seventh overall.

That means Terranova starts Monday's 322-mile stage to San Juan with a 42-second lead over Robby Gordon's HST Gordini, which has Giniel de Villiers' Toyota, Krzysztof Holowczyc's Mini and Emiliano Spataro's Renault close behind.

The best of the new Peugeots is Carlos Sainz's example in eighth place, 1m44s behind Terranova.

Last year's winner Nani Roma is currently classified last, six and a half hours behind the leaders, having hit early mechanical problems – suspected to be an oil pump failure – that could not be rectified. The Spaniard's Mini had to be towed by X-raid's assistance truck for the majority of the opening stage.

Originally on Autosport.com