Al-Attiyah closes in on Dakar overall victory

Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar was closing in on winning the 2015 Dakar Rally overall victory after he finished fourth in the tension-packed penultimate stage on Friday.

Argentina's Orlando Terranova behind the wheel of Mini won the 12th stage, which includes a 1,024 km (298 km timed) cross-country journey from Argentina's Termas de Rio Hondo to Rosario.

Terranova finished 30 seconds ahead of another Mini driven by Russian Vladimir Vasilyev with the Duster Renault of fellow Argentine Emiliano Spataro one minutes and 29 seconds further back.

The 2011 winner Al-Attiyah, who is aiming for his second car Dakar title, leads the overall car standings after the 12th stage. He is 35 minutes, 39 seconds in front of South African Ginel De Villiers, and 1:31:51 ahead of Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland.

"I just wanted to start and finish this stage, you know, because it looked like a very long stage for us. We did a good job and needed to drive at a good speed, not lose concentration," said the 44-year-old Qatari.

Saturday's final stage will come back to the starting point of Buenos Aires and reaches the podium of the 2015 edition at the Technopolis in the Argentina's capital. Caution is the name of the game on the fast tracks of the final 174 km special stage because every year at least one competitor retires during this final stage.

"I'm quite happy to work all year towards this victory on the Dakar 2015. Of course, we've got a lot more experience since 2011. Everything is working 100% right for this Dakar. I'm not stressed for tomorrow. If I wake up in good health, I will do my best," added Al-Attiyah.

Defending champion Coma is chasing his fifth Dakar title on motorbikes. He leads Paulo Goncalves of Portugal by 17:49, and is 25:18 in front of Toby Price of Australia. Price won the 12th stage and Coma was 6:25 back. Endi