NASCAR Cup Series

Al-Attiyah, Coma near victory in Dakar

Published Jan. 14, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar drove his car and Marc Coma of Spain rode his bike without any major problems in Friday's next-to-last stage of the Dakar Rally, setting themselves up for victory on Saturday.

Al-Attiyah finished 6 minutes, 11 seconds behind the winner and defending champion Carlos Sainz of Spain to take third in the 12th stage.

Overall, Al-Attiyah leads Giniel de Villiers of South Africa by 48:21 and Sainz by 1:21:16. All three leaders are driving Volkswagens.

In bikes, Coma won the stage, finishing 37 seconds ahead of KTM teammate Cyril Despres of France. The Spaniard leads Despres by 16:36 in the overall standings.