By alley - Jan 7, 2016, 2:31 PM ET

DAKAR: Loeb's lead grows with another win

Sebastien Loeb extended his lead in the Dakar Rally to nearly eight minutes with another stage victory on Thursday.

The nine-time World Rally champion beat Peugeot teammate and fellow WRC legend Carlos Sainz by 22 seconds to win the Jujuy-Uyuni stage, but crucially for the overall standings he outpaced Stephane Peterhansel by three minutes through the 200-mile test.

Loeb enjoyed an advantage over Sainz of 1m39s around the halfway mark of the stage, but Sainz chipped away at that margin, and between the final time check and the finish he cut a 1m10s deficit down to just 22s.

Peterhansel, also driving one of the dominant Peugeot 2008 DKRs, spent much of the stage in fourth place behind the Mini of Nasser Al-Attiyah, however he also clawed back time on Loeb toward the end of the stage, gaining enough ground to beat Al-Attiyah to third on the day by seven seconds.

The day's results mean Loeb now leads Peterhansel by 7m48s, while Sainz has overtaken Al-Attiyah for third, with the lead Mini driver 50s back in fourth.

The South African-entered Toyotas of Leeroy Poulter and Giniel de Villiers continue to lead the chase of the big names in fifth and sixth, while ex-WRC star Mikko Hirvonen split them on Thursday's stage to close to within two minutes of the latter in the overall standings.

Backing up his first top-10 finish during Stage 4, America's Robby Gordon claimed the eighth position with his HST Gordini. Starting the day in the 10th position, Gordon raced out to a blistering pace, catching ninth-place starter Argentina's Orlando Terranova, and eighth-place starter Nani Roma right out of the gate. Gordon would buzz Terranova 15-20 times for him to move over and allow them go by, but Terranova did not obey.

Being stuck in his dust slowed the pace for Gordon and navigator Kellon Walch as they would make sure to hit each checkpoint and speed zone. Gordon got stuck for about three minutes toward the end of the special, finishing Stage 5 in a time of 3 hours, 41 minutes, 54 seconds.

Coverage of the Dakar Rally airs on NBCSN daily at 5:30pm ET:

Date	Coverage	Time (ET)
Mon., January 4	Stage 1 - Rosario to Villa Carlos Paz	5:30 p.m.
Tue., January 5	Stage 2 - Villa Carlos Paz to Termas De Rio Hondo	5:30 p.m.
Wed., January 6	Stage 3 – Termas De Rio Hondo to San Salvador De Jujuy	5:30 p.m.
Thu., January 7	Stage 4 - San Salvador De Jujuy to San Salvador De Jujuy	5:30 p.m.
Fri., January 8	Stage 5 - San Salvador De Jujuy to Uyuni	5:30 p.m.
Sat., January 9	Stage 6 – Uyuni to Uyuni	5:30 p.m.
Sun., January 10	Stage 7 – Uyuni to Salta	6:30 p.m.
Mon., January 11	Rest Day	5:30 p.m.
Tue., January 12	Stage 8 – Salta to Belen	5:30 p.m.
Wed., January 13	Stage 9 – Belen to Belen	5:30 p.m.
Thu., January 14	Stage 10 – Belen to La Rioja	5:30 p.m.
Fri., January 15	Stage 11 – La Rioja to San Juan	5:30 p.m.
Sat., January 16	Stage 12 – San Juan to Villa Carlos Paz	5:30 p.m.
Sun., January 17	Stage 13 – Villa Carlos Paz to Rosario	5 p.m.