The UAE's Khalid Al Khamis and Mitsubishi's Stephane Peterhansel won the second stage of the UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge across the Western region of the remote Rub Al Khali desert yesterday.

The results meant that Peterhansel extended his advantage in the Cars section to nearly 38 minutes and fellow Frenchman Cyril Despres moved ahead of South Africa's Alfie Cox by two minutes in the Motos category.

The event is the final round of both the FIA and FIM World Championships for Cross Country rallies and is being held under the direction of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and the patronage of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence.

In temperatures which soared well into the high thirties in the heat of the midday sun, the punishing terrain and lack of a desert wind took its toll on weary teams. KTM-mounted Cox had led the challengers into the stage at 6.00 am yesterday morning.

Bike category leader Despres was defiant: "I will start first in the morning and will try and open up a lead. I will not ride flat out, but don't want to wait around for Alfie." The UAE's Dave McBride slipped out of the top five with an oil leak, as Italy's Graziani and Sweden's PG Lundmark closed in on a podium placing.

Peterhansel was cruising towards a maiden victory for the new Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution and had opened up a massive lead by the end of the day.

"Today I really pushed hard," said the six-times winner of the Dakar. "Not flat out, but I gave it a lot more to make a test. We have some damage to the front right side of the car and the bumper. We hit a dune hard and jolted our necks. No serious problem."

Team mate Hiroshi Masuoka returned to the bivouac with an overheating rear differential and Portugal's Carlos Sousa was delayed with clutch problems.

A broken wheel cost the UAE's Khalifa Al Mutawi some time and BMW's Luc Alphand also suffered problems.

Unofficial positions after SS2 (Western Region - Rub Al Khali):
Cars (top 7)
1. Stephane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution 7h 21m 10s
2. Jean-Pierre Fontenay (F)/Gilles Picard (F) Mitsubishi Pajero 7h 59m 06s
3. Miki Biasion (I)/Tiziano Siviero (I) Mitsubishi Pajero
8h 16m 36s
4. Jean-Francois Guinot (F)/Manfred Kroiss (F) Mitsubishi Challenger 9h 30m 47s
5. Khalifa Al Mutawi (UAE)/Pascal Maimon (F) Nissan Pick-Up 9h 31m 51s
6. Amadeus Matzker (D)/Bobby Willis (GB) Land Rover Defender 90 9h 34m 54s
7. Saeed Al Hameli (UAE)/Ahmed Juma Malik (UAE) Nissan Patrol 9h 49m 18s

Bikes (top 7)
1. Cyril Despres (F - KTM) 8h 39m 30s
2. Alfie Cox (ZA - KTM) 8h 37m 35s
3. Khalid Khamis (UAE - Honda) 8h 50m 46s
4. Graziani (I - KTM) 8h 54m 51s
5. PG Lundmark (S - KTM) 8h 58m 54s
6. Antonio Colombo (I - KTM) 9h 01m 26s 7. Dave McBride (UAE - KTM) 9h 02m 28s