Stephane Peterhansel's hopes of defending his Dakar Rally title effectively disappeared on Sunday after the Frenchman's electric Audi suffered a smashed rear axle on the first stage in the Saudi desert and he lost more than five hours. While Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah continued his form from Saturday's prologue to stretch his lead to 12 minutes 44 seconds, 14-times Dakar winner Peterhansel had to wait for assistance. The French veteran had been in second place at the first waypoint but the challenge fell apart some 153km into the 333-km loop around Ha'il. Toyota driver Al Attiyah's closest rival is now Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, a nine-times world rally champion, for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme...
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