( CNN ) -- Carlos Sainz is closing on his first Dakar Rally car title after extending his lead with victory on Tuesday 's 10th stage in the South American event . The Spaniard , who led last year 's race before crashing out on the 12th stage , was 10 minutes and six seconds ahead of Volkswagen teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar after triumphing on the 238-kilometer leg from La Serena to Santiago . It was the two-time world rally champion 's first stage win in this year 's event and the 16th of his career , and leaves him in prime position to win with three legs to go . Al-Attiyah finished the day in fourth as he lost one minute and 40 seconds to Sainz , but was still more than 18 minutes ahead of third-placed American Mark Miller in another Volkswagen . Miller was third on the stage , with Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel second -- 28 seconds behind Sainz . Peterhansel , who has won six motorbike titles and three in a four-wheeler , is more than two hours behind Sainz in fourth place in the overall standings . `` Eighty kilometers after the start we caught up with Nasser , '' Sainz told the race 's official Web site . `` We stayed behind him because he could n't hear the Sentinel and we could n't get past . `` It was quite a slow and winding route , mostly lanes . What I did first was to get close to Nasser , then I stayed around at 1:40 . After that , from the 80km point onwards , we were driving in the dust . '' Al-Attiyah , who won the ninth stage , said he struggled after having to lead out the field . `` It was very dangerous at that speed . There were a lot of corners , a lot of slippery stuff . For me it was not a good feeling and I 'm really happy to have finished this stage without any problems , '' he said . `` Today it was very stressful because I opened the road . Tomorrow there will be some off-road and more dunes . It will be good for me . '' Peterhansel 's compatriot Cyril Despres leads the bike class by one hour , 22 minutes and 49 seconds despite finishing only sixth on Tuesday . Spain 's Marc Coma , also riding a KTM machine , won the stage by more than two minutes from another Frenchman , David Fretigne , but is way back in 17th overall . Russia 's Vladimir Chagin is more than an hour ahead in the truck class after following up his stage win on Monday with another victory . Wednesday 's 11th stage sees the race move from Chile back into Argentina .
Carlos Sainz is closing on his first Dakar Rally car title after extending his lead with victory on Tuesday 's 10th stage in the South American event . Spaniard wins Tuesday 's 10th stage in the South American event to be 10 minutes ahead . Second-placed Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar loses one minute 40 seconds , finishing fourth . Wednesday 's 11th leg sees the 14-stage race leave Chile and return to Argentina .