Dakar: The pressure is on Carlos Sainz before the final stage

Stephane Peterhansel (BMW) has won on Friday 13th stage of the Dakar raid. Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen) leads his teammate Nasser Al Attiyah only just 2min 48sec on top of the standings before the final and decisive stage to be held tomorrow.

This is the smallest gap ever seen between Sainz and Al-Attiyah since the start of the event. Al-Attiyah pushed hard on the first part of today's stage to close in on Sainz, a former World Rally Championship driver.

Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (BMW) arrived home in 3rd place today.

NASCAR driver Robby Gordon (Hummer H3) was classified 8th, just ahead of his teammate Robert Baldwin.

The 2010 Dakar raid will finish tomorrow, as the field will return to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Will Carlos Sainz crack under the intense pressure?

13rd stage classification:
1. Peterhansel (BMW) in 2h58'25''
2. Al Attiyah (Volkswagen) +1'21''
3. Chicherit (BMW) +3'45''
4. Sainz (Volkswagen) +3'53''
5. Miller (Volkswagen) +7'29''
6. De Villiers (Volkswagen) +8'13''
7. Terranova (Mitsubishi) +11'16''
8. Gordon (Hummer) +12'21''
9. Baldwin (Hummer) +13'37''
10. Sousa (Mitsubishi) +17'00''
etc.

Provisional classification:
1. Sainz (Volkswagen) in 45h49'42
2. Al Attiyah (Volkswagen) +2'48''
3. Miller (Volkswagen) +31'48''
4. Peterhansel (BMW) +2h16'49''
5. Chicherit (BMW) +4h02'42''
6. Sousa (Mitsubishi) +4h26'32''
7. De Villiers (Volkswagen) +5h09'14''
8. Gordon (Hummer) +6h01'02''
9. Terranova (Mitsubishi) +6h02'55''
10. Spinelli (Mitsubishi) +6h09'09''
etc.