Luc Alphand, skier extraordinaire turned driver, leads by 20 mins 44 secs from Mitsubishi team-mate Stephane Peterhansel after the 378.9km Nissan Special Stage 4 and looks certain to follow up his Dakar Rally triumph at the start of the year with another win.

Equally in control in a KTM-dominated bikes tussle, Spain's Marc Coma extended his overnight lead by 11 minutes to head Frenchman Cyril Despres by more than 18 minutes with a day to go.

Climbing one place to fourth following the enforced retirement on the day of Spaniard Isidre Esteve, French rider David Casteu will succeed Coma as FIM Cross Country Rallies world champion as long as he avoids a similar misfortune on the last leg.

Nissan's unofficial 'king of the desert' title for the day went to two-time former World Rally Champion, Carlos Sainz, who has been having an up and down time on his first competitive appearance in the Middle East.

After winning the opening day's special stage in great style, he was left in the desert wilderness by a broken drive shaft 24 hours later and must now hope that today's performance can be matched by consistency in the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 prototype.

That is certainly not happening for VW at present, a point emphasised by Ari Vatanen's retirement with a blown engine after his car's gearbox broke the previous day.

Making it a French 1-2-3 at the top of the cars battle is veteran Jean-Louis Schlesser, whose buggy has only two wheel drive but holds an abundance of experience.

Portugal's Carlos Sousa, in another VW, Qatar's Middle East rally champion Nasser Al Attiyah, second fastest on the day, and Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt, in two X-raid BMWs, complete the top six. Flying the flag for the UAE are Liberty Chevrolet team-mates Yahya Alhelei and Ahmad bin Suqat. Both hold the last two top ten places ahead of Sainz in 11th position.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the 2006 UAE Desert Challenge is sponsored by Nakheel.

Provisional leading positions after Nissan 4th special stage: Cars — 1. Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (F)/Mitsubishi Evolution/T1 (14:02:09), 2. Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Mitsubishi Evolution/T1 (14:22:54), 3. Jean Louis Schlesser / Emmanuel Guigou (F)/Schlesser/T1 (14:34:05), 4. Carlos Sousa / Andreas Schulz (P / D)/Volkswagen/T1 (14:41:21), 5. Nasser Al Attiyah / Alain Guehennec QA / F  X-raid GmbH BMW X3 T  (15:09:36), 6. Jutta Kleinschmidt / Tina Thorner (D / S)/BMW/T1 (15:40:35),  7. Hiroshi Masuoka / Pascal Maimon (J / F)/Mitsubishi Evolution/T1 (15:42:26),

8. Jose Luis Monterde / Jean-Marie Lurquin (E / B)/BMW/T1 (16:05:21), 9. Yahya Alhelei / Khalid Alkendi (UAE)/Chevrolet /T1 (17:28:11), 10. Ahmad Bin Suqat / Abdul Bari Bin Suqat (UAE) /Chevrolet/T1 (18:22:42).

Bikes — 1. Marc Coma (E) / KTM 660 LC4 (14:53:46), 2. Cyril Despres (F) / KTM 660 LC4 M3 (15:12:24), 3. Jordi Viladoms (E) / KTM 660 LC4M3 (15:23:33), 4. David Casteu (F) / KTM 660 LC4 (15:26:40), 5. Christopher Blais (USA) / KTM Red Bull KTM 660 LC4 M3 (15:26:40), 6. Pal Anders Ullevalsetter (N) / KTM 660 Rally (15:31:24), 7. Frans Verhoeven (NL) / KTM Gauloises KTM 660 LC4 M3 (15:37:26), 8. Sean Linton (GB) / Gecko Motorcycles Honda 450 CRF (17:01:11), 9. Sebastian Husseini (NL) / Suzuki 450 LTR M4 (17:08:39), 10. Oscar Polli (I) / KTM 450 Rally (17:22:55).