Dakar legends poised for stunning battle royal after dramatic standings turnaround

Three former winners of the Dakar Rally are poised to offer a grandstand finish to this year's event following a tumultous shake-up of the pecking following the conclusion of the first part of the second marathon stage.

Ford duo Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz, along with Dacia's Nasser Al-Attiyah are covered by just 70 seconds with four stages on the exhaustive route remaining.

Five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah went into the stage, in which no mechanical assistance is allowed, and the drivers spend the night in a tent in the desert, with a healthy four-minute lead over Ford's Mattias Ekström.

Roma and Sainz, meanwhile, were both around 10 minutes adrift on the Qatari, but enjoyed a dramatic turnaround to finish the day first and second on the leaderboard, split by just 57 seconds, with Al-Attiyah a further 13 seconds adrift.

From the outset, Al-Attiyah struggled, losing time consistently throughout the stage as his advantage over Roma, a two-time winner - on a motorcycle in 2004 and then cars a decade later - and four-time winner and reigning champion Sainz, evaporated.

That appeared to have given his closest rivals in Ekström and Toyota's Henk Lategan the opportunity to strike, but they also ran into trouble.

Instead, it was Barcelona native Roma and Madrid's Sainz who profited, setting up a potential 'El Clásico' on four wheels, although given the stunning swings on the leaderboard over the past few days, nothing can be taken for granted.

It is the first time since his Dakar win in 2014 that Roma has topped the standings.

The stage victory, and his first in the Dakar in the top car category, went to 21-year-old Polish driver Eryk Goczal [Toyota], ahead of his uncle Michal. 

View the general classification below!