( CNN ) -- Nasser Al-Attiyah kept his Dakar Rally title defense alive as he clawed back almost eight minutes in winning Saturday 's seventh stage in Chile . The Qatari driver is still more than 42 minutes behind leader Stephane Peterhansel in sixth place overall , having lost significant time to the Frenchman 's Mini in the opening stage of 14 and then on Thursday . But his surging form in the Hummer , passing five drivers in the second half of the 419-kilometer special in and around Copiapo , has given him hope that all is not over going into Sunday 's halfway rest day . `` The car worked perfectly well today and we attacked from the beginning to the end of the special . We took a lot of risks to set the best time , '' the 41-year-old said , having lost a stage when Friday 's leg from Fiambala in Argentina was called off due to snow in the Andes . `` Our objective is to claw back seven or eight minutes every day . And today we did it perfectly . We will do our best to repeat this performance in all stages from Monday onwards , or even try to do better . '' Peterhansel is a Dakar legend with three car titles and six on motorbikes , all coming before the grueling endurance event moved to South America in 2009 due to security problems in Africa . He has a lead of 11 minutes and 22 seconds over Mini teammate Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland , who was fifth last year . The 46-year-old was third in Saturday 's stage , seven minutes clear of Holowczyc and 23 seconds behind Hummer 's American Robby Gordon . Gordon , an experienced NASCAR driver , is third overall -- 13 minutes off the pace after finishing 7:30 behind his teammate . Motorbike champion Marc Coma moved to within eight minutes of leader Cyril Despres after shaving 2:03 off the Frenchman 's advantage on Saturday . The Spaniard triumphed in the sand dunes to keep alive his hopes of a fourth title for the KLM team . `` It is common knowledge that the stage before the rest day is always difficult , and today was not an exception , with stifling heat and very soft sand , '' Coma said . `` Nevertheless , we rode very fast and I was able to attack . We know the strategy well , so we are aware that I will probably gain two minutes one day , then Cyril will gain two minutes the next ... And it is hard to change this when there is but one road . '' Despres , also a three-time winner on bikes , admitted he had lapsed in concentration . `` I was a bit lazy today , since Marc led the race from km 200 onwards , the start of the second special , but I think that is also part of the race . So I thank him for this , '' he said . `` There is always a strategic aspect , since we know we can control two-minute gaps . Having said that , I finished with my hands paralyzed , but it was a really beautiful special with beautiful dunes . ''
Defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah wins Saturday 's seventh stage of the Dakar Rally . Hummer driver moves up to sixth overall as he makes up almost eight minutes on leader . Mini 's Stephane Peterhansel extends his advantage over teammate Krzysztof Holowczyc . Motorbike champion Marc Coma makes up two minutes on leader Cyril Despres .