Motorsport: Help costs driver victory in Dakar Rally

Stephane Peterhansel suffered a five-minute time penalty which cost him victory after the 337km fifth stage of the Dakar Rally yesterday.

The Frenchman was initially declared the winner of the stage from Er Rachidia in Morocco after finishing 4m 35s ahead of Mitsubishi team-mate Hiroshi Masuoka, of Japan.

But another Mitsubishi driver, German woman Andrea Mayer, had helped to push the Frenchman's car with her vehicle to a checkpoint after Peterhansel hit gearbox problems 80km from the overnight stop in Ouarzazate.

Peterhansel had been more than six minutes clear of Masuoka in the overall standings before the time penalty trimmed the advantage back to 1m 12s.