The Dakar rally is being held in South America for the third year, looping for 9,500 km through Argentina and Chile with its start and finish in Buenos Aires. In the bike category this year, there are no Canadians have entered and only one is in a car; Conor Malone of Toronto.

Spaniard Marc Coma took his first stage victory, on the third day of the 2011 Dakar Rally by beating fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres. Coma rode strongly in the trek, Down by 2:35 at the end of Day 2, from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy to finish 02:21 ahead of his rival. On Day 3, Despres maintains the overall rally lead.

Throughout the day’s competition, Despres made a terrific comeback to finish second and lose only a minute and a half from his overall lead. During the first checkpoint, Portugal’s Paulo Goncalves led but he would gradually slow to take third at the end of Day 3.

With a neutralized section in between, the third leg of the journey featured a special, which was broken into two smaller parts. The first timed special taking place through desert canyons and red sand cliffs, terrain varied widely throughout the day. Despres was making up significant ground on the field and fast approaching Coma, although heading into the first neutralized section KTM’s Coma established 3:09 advantage over his rival. Coma led as Goncalves and France’s Olivier Pain remained closely behind, throughout the neutralized section.

On the car side of things, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Volkswagen Motorsports won the third stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally in Argentina. Teammate Carlos Sainz continues to hold the overall lead. At the start of Tuesday’s stage, Al-Attiyah was third overall in the standings.
Out of 156 entries, Conor Malone is in 131st spot, which is not bad for a total rookie. He said that his goal is to finish. He added that he knows he will not beat the Volkswagens but for him finishing is realistic. Finishing will be like a win for him.

Wednesday’s running will take the drivers from San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina to Calama, Chili and it will mark the fourth of 13 stages.