By alley - Jan 15, 2016, 7:01 PM ET

DAKAR: First stage win for Hirvonen

Former World Rally Championship driver Mikko Hirvonen claimed his first Dakar stage win on Friday, as Stephane Peterhansel drew closer to a 12th victory in the event.

The outright leaders were content to again drive cautiously through the San Juan to Villa Carlos Paz stage, on which Peugeot driver Peterhansel was 10th quickest. He maintains a 40-minute outright lead over X-raid Mini's Nasser Al-Attiyah, who was second fastest on stage 12, with just Saturday's relatively short run to Rosario to go.

Toyota driver Leeroy Poulter set the pace for the majority of Friday's stage, but was overhauled by X-raid men Hirvonen and Al-Attiyah in the final miles.

Hirvonen ended up winning the stage by just nine seconds over team-mate Al-Attiyah, with Poulter 45s down in third.

Despite Hirvonen's stage win, his chance of grabbing third overall in the rally remains slender. Current third-place driver Giniel de Villiers was fourth fastest on Friday, only 57s down on Hirvonen – which means he retains a 4m26s cushion in the outright battle.

Poulter completes the overall top five heading into the final day, with Sebastien Loeb still ninth and Harry Hunt now established in the top 10.

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.