Over to the Dakar rally, which failed to get going for two of the four categories. Organizers cancelling stage 12 of the event for bikes and quads claiming conditions were unsafe. Poor weather affecting the course -- rendered parts of the route impassable. But things would be ok for the cars and trucks.

The 12th stage covered a 523 kilometers run between Chilecito and San Juan. Toyota driver Nasser Al-Attiyah won his third stage since the start of the rally and his 12th stage on the Dakar after finishing two minutes quicker than defending champion Stephane Peterhansel. Al-Attiyah has won the shortest stage of this year's rally, but also the longest, bringing his total of victories on the Dakar to 30. Overall leader Carlos Sainz only managed an eighth place finish in the stage. Sainz, who has led the overall standings since stage seven of the rally, lost around 20 minutes of his 1 hour lead.

He is nonetheless still in total control of the rally, followed by Peterhansel. They are followed by the Toyota trio of Al-Attiyah, Ten Brinke, and Giniel De Villiers. Everyone else is far behind. 

In the trucks race, Martin Kolomy leads from the front with the Czech driver finishing one minute and 45 seconds ahead of Ton van Genugten following the 448 kilometers journey as Federico Villagra completed the 1-2-3.

Now, only one second! That's the gap in the general standings between the Kamaz driven by Eduard Nikolaev, the new leader, and the Iveco of Villagra, who was dethroned. The two men will battle for overall victory during the last two stages.