Carlos Sainz won the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally yesterday, extending his overall lead as the gruelling race passes through the Atacama desert to the Chile-Peru border.

Sainz, the defending champion in the cars category, guided his Volkswagen to victory in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 53 seconds. Teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah was 9 seconds back with Giniel de Villiers 9:49 behind. In the overall standings, Sainz is 2:42 up on Al-Attiyah and 14:15 ahead of Stephane Peterhansel.

In bikes, Ruben Faria on a KTM won the stage in 5:37:27. Helder Rodrigues was 50 seconds back and Cyril Despres trailed by 3:54. Marc Coma, who finished the stage fourth, kept his overall lead. He is 8:48 ahead of Despres and 22:12 in front of Francisco Lopez Contardo.

The long, dusty stage pushed drivers to the limits with today's rest day sure to be welcome.