Peterhansel, driving a Mitsubishi, clocked eight hours 21 minutes 57 seconds over the 660km stage from Zouerat to Tichit to clinch his second stage win this year.

BMW’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah of Qatar was second followed by Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany, another former winner, in a Volkswagen.

Peterhansel now has a 21 minutes 32 seconds lead over teammate Luc Alphand, while Kleinschmidt is third.

Meanwhile, France's David Fretigne, riding a Yamaha, won the motorcycle stage.

He clocked nine hours 16 minutes 26 seconds to finish ahead of KTM riders Marc Coma of Spain and France's Cyril Despres.

Coma regained the lead in the overall standings over Despres, with fellow KTM riders, Australia's Andy Caldecott and South African Alfie Cox shared the third place.

The eighth stage sees competitors facing a 538km stage to Tidjikja, still in Mauritania, with a 520km timed section.

(Photo source: sina)

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