Stage 10 Winner & Overall leader : 303 - Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2Stage 10 : January 12, 2010 : La Serena to Santiago - Connection 112 km / Special 238 km / Connection 236 km
The Spaniards Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) increased their lead over their two team mates in the overall standings following the duo’s first stage victory and Volkswagen’s fifth so far this year in the 2010 Dakar Rally.
Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) are now second 10 minutes 6 seconds behind the leaders, Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) in the third Race Touareg trail the leaders by a margin of 28 minutes 19 seconds.
The three leaders in the overall standings were incredibly evenly matched after more than three hours of driving through the tenth "Dakar” stage: Sainz, Al-Attiyah and Miller reached the finish in team formation covered by a mere 1 minute 40 seconds.
The former Rally World Champion Sainz was completely in his element along the small mountain passes from La Serena to Santiago. Stony tracks, tight corners and many braking manoeuvres – the demands were rather more reminiscent of a rally world championship than a desert rally. Nevertheless his task was anything but routine: Sainz won the desert classic's tenth stage in the Race Touareg with a 28 second margin over Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (F/F) in an X-raid BMW. It was his sixteenth stage victory in a Dakar Rally, which he contests for Volkswagen since 2006. Another rival in the fight for victory on the day was Volkswagen team mate Mark Miller who even led after having completed 148 of the 238 total kilometres. The American finished third on the day ahead of team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah.
After ten of the events 14 stages the Volkswagen trio hold a considerable advantage at the head of the overall standings: Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (F/F) are 2 hours 14 minutes 20 seconds behind in fourth at the wheel of an X-raid-BMW.
More importantly, this 10th special witnessed the bad luck of general standings leader and title holder, Frenchman Nicolas Gibon (Toyota), who rolled his car after 187 km of the day’s special. As a result, he loses command of the general standings to today’s winner, his Japanese team-mate.
Stage 10 Result : January 12, 2010 : La Serena to Santiago - Connection 112 km / Special 238 km / Connection 236 km
Pl | No. | Driver | Car | Time | Variation | Penalty |
| 1 | 303 | SAINZ (ESP) CRUZ (ESP) | VOLKSWAGEN | 03:01:05 | 00:00:00 | |
| 2 | 301 | PETERHANSEL (FRA) COTTRET (FRA) | BMW | 03:01:33 | 00:00:28 | |
| 3 | 305 | MILLER (USA) PITCHFORD (ZAF) | VOLKSWAGEN | 03:02:07 | 00:01:02 | |
| 4 | 306 | AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) GOTTSCHALK (DEU) | VOLKSWAGEN | 03:02:45 | 00:01:40 | |
| 5 | 307 | CHICHERIT (FRA) THOERNER (CHE) | BMW | 03:03:37 | 00:02:32 | |
| 6 | 311 | TERRANOVA (ARG) MAIMON (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 03:04:47 | 00:03:42 | |
| 7 | 332 | BARBOSA (PRT) RAMALHO (PRT) | MITSUBISHI | 03:08:48 | 00:07:43 | |
| 8 | 322 | SPINELLI (BRA) PALMEIRO (PRT) | MITSUBISHI | 03:10:31 | 00:09:26 | |
| 9 | 302 | GORDON (USA) GRIDER (USA) | HUMMER | 03:10:41 | 00:09:36 | |
| 10 | 314 | SOUSA (PRT) BAUMEL (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 03:10:43 | 00:09:38 | |
| 11 | 300 | DE VILLIERS (ZAF) VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU) | VOLKSWAGEN | 03:10:50 | 00:09:45 | |
| 12 | 336 | LEAL DOS SANTOS (PRT) FIUZA (PRT) | BMW | 03:17:09 | 00:16:04 | |
| 13 | 318 | MISSLIN (FRA) POLATO (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 03:19:13 | 00:18:08 | |
| 14 | 317 | VAN DEIJNE (NLD) ROSEGAAR (NLD) | MITSUBISHI | 03:20:36 | 00:19:31 | |
| 15 | 310 | NOVITSKIY (RUS) SCHULZ (DEU) | BMW | 03:20:40 | 00:19:35 | |
| 16 | 321 | DE AZEVEDO (BRA) CAVASSIN (BRA) | MITSUBISHI | 03:21:15 | 00:20:10 | |
| 17 | 335 | WALLENTHEIM (SWE) OHLSSON (SWE) | ISUZU | 03:27:17 | 00:26:12 | |
| 18 | 337 | VAN LOON (NLD) VERHOEF (NLD) | MITSUBISHI | 03:28:31 | 00:27:26 | |
| 19 | 341 | MITSUHASHI (JPN) CATTARELLI (FRA) | TOYOTA | 03:29:15 | 00:28:10 | |
| 20 | 339 | FOJ (ESP) JATON (ARG) | TOYOTA | 03:32:30 | 00:31:25 | |
| 21 | 383 | JIANG (CHN) BARTHOLOME (BEL) | CHERY | 03:34:11 | 00:33:06 | |
| 22 | 330 | SIREYJOL (FRA) WISSMANNS (FRA) | BOWLER | 03:34:37 | 00:33:32 | |
| 23 | 315 | KAHLE (DEU) SCHÜNEMANN (DEU) | Fast - Speed | 03:35:12 | 00:34:07 | |
| 24 | 351 | BALDWIN (USA) WALCH (USA) | HUMMER | 03:36:05 | 00:35:00 | |
| 25 | 327 | SOLOVYEV (RUS) ZHILTSOV (RUS) | SMG | 03:36:18 | 00:35:13 | |
| 26 | 325 | HENRARD (BEL) BEGUIN (BEL) | VOLKSWAGEN | 03:37:03 | 00:35:58 | |
| 27 | 364 | TURON-BARRERE (FRA) FENESTRAZ (FRA) | BUGGY | 03:42:00 | 00:40:55 | |
| 28 | 323 | ERRANDONEA (AND) GARCIN (FRA) | SMG | 03:43:23 | 00:42:18 | |
| 29 | 342 | STRUGO (FRA) FERRI (FRA) | NISSAN | 03:46:37 | 00:45:32 | |
| 30 | 382 | LU (CHN) DI PERSIO (ITA) | CHERY | 03:49:44 | 00:48:39 |
Stage 9 - Overall Standing
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Images : 2010 Dakar - Stage 10 Hi-light
[Source : 2010 Dakar - Official, VOLKSWAGEN, X-Raid]
