Russia"s Vladimir Chagin, piloting his legendary...

Five-time Dakar champion Chagin, who finished a minute and a half ahead of his countryman and teammate Firdaus Kabirov, has already won eight out of ten stages this year and has now taken the lead in the battle with Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel "Peter" for the absolute record of stage victories (Chagin"s 55 against Peterhansel"s 54).

Frenchman Joseph Adua, driving an Iveco truck, finished the 10th leg of the rally in third place, losing just 14 seconds to reigning champion Kabirov.

In the overall standings, Chagin holds the lead and is 1 hour and 13 minutes ahead of Kabirov, who won the other two stages of this year"s Dakar in the truck category, and is over 8.5 hours ahead of Marcel Van Vliet of the Netherlands, driving a Ginaf truck.

The 2010 Dakar Rally is the 32nd annual event. It is taking place in South America for the second successive year and runs until January 16. Last year marked the first time that the rally, founded in 1979, had taken place outside

Pages: [1] 2