Peterhansel had suffered a bruising start to his 35th appearance at the Dakar on Saturday, as a spate of punctures left him 30 minutes off the front.
But with fewer stones on the 464km stage between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi, the 14-time Dakar winner rose to the fore, scoring a narrow but significant 29-second stage victory over Prodrive’s Sebastien Loeb.
The Frenchman was already ahead of the field by the first checkpoint at 41km and gradually extended his lead to over a minute over the chasing pack, then led by Overdrive Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi.
There was a surprise 167km into the stage when factory Toyota driver Seth Quintero jumped from third to claim the lead from Peterhansel, but the Audi ace was able to snatch the top spot back at the checkpoint.
In the second half of the stage, Peterhansel faced severe pressure from nine-time World Rally champion Loeb, who was able to bring the gap down to just five seconds at the 342km mark.
But Peterhansel was able to build his advantage again in the final run to the finish to clinch his first stage victory at Dakar since the 2022 edition of the event - and only his second as an Audi driver.
Loeb didn’t have the pace to match Peterhansel in the final 100km of the stage, but he finished well over two minutes clear of Quintero’s Toyota in second, as his Prodrive team bounced back from a disappointing first day at the Dakar.
Source: Autosport