Peterhansel in control in Dakar Rally as Al-Attiyah hits trouble

France's Dakar Rally legend Stephane Peterhansel took the overall lead in the car section here on Wednesday after winning the fourth stage, a 326km special from San Juan to Chilecito. The 46-year-old Mini driver, a six-time Dakar motorcycling champion and three-time car winner, endured a miserable day on Tuesday when he suffered two punctures but on Wednesday it was the turn of Qatar's defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah to have a nightmare. The 31-year-old's Hummer broke down after 288km of the stage and only got going again after a 15-minute stop, leaving Al-Attiyah seventh overall and over half an hour off the pace. While he fumed, Peterhansel came in 5min 19sec ahead of Argentinian driver Orlando Terranova, while the latter's fellow Toyota driver, experienced South African Giniel De Villiers, was third, 6min 42sec adrift. Peterhansel, though, was not so happy that he had re-taken the overall lead. "I would have preferred not to lead the field tomorrow (Thursday), since there will be no motorcycle tracks," he said. "This is not what I would have liked from a tactical point of view, but I think the others made a lot of mistakes, so we will race at the front." Defending motorcycling champion Marc Coma had earlier won the bikes stage, rebounding from a poor day on Tuesday, when he had lost the overall lead. The 35-year-old KTM rider came in 2min 02sec ahead of main rival and team-mate Cyril Despres of France, who retained the overall lead with an advantage of 8min 10sec over the Spaniard. Dutchman Frans Verhoeven, riding for Sherco, was third, over eight minutes off the pace, having finished second in Tuesday's stage. Coma had led three-time motorcycling champion Despres by over two minutes, but fell 10 minutes behind him on Tuesday after he took the wrong route. "I tried to drive at a very high pace from the beginning, but it was difficult," said Coma. "I was able to overtake a few drivers and gain some time on Cyril. Fiambala and many other stages still lie ahead. That is the way things are right now. And I keep on fighting every day." For his part, Despres said he had just been content to play safe and restrict the damage done to his overall lead by Coma. "It was difficult because the rainfall in the region these last few days furrowed the tracks and exposed big rocks," he said. "Moreover, with this heat it is physically demanding to maintain a high pace in these conditions... So I am quite happy with my performance today (Wedsnesday). "At the beginning I saw Marc surge ahead and I knew he would claw some time back, but I focused on the navigation to avoid making any mistakes."