America's Robby Gordon, who faces Dakar Rally disqualification after his Hummer engine was deemed to break race regulations, won the 12th stage on Friday, showing he won't exit the gruelling event quietly.

Gordon, who has appealed the stewards' decision imposed on Wednesday, came home ahead of Russia's Leonid Novotskiy, in a Mini, and Ginel De Viliers of South Africa, driving a Toyota.

France's Stephane Peterhansel, who was sixth on Friday, remained on top of the overall standings.

Peterhansel, a six-time motorcycle champion and three-time car winner, is 1hr 44min ahead of Gordon who is fourth overall.

He is also 20 minutes in front of second-placed Nani Roma and more than an hour ahead of De Villiers, who is in third, with just two days left to run.

Spain's Marc Coma reclaimed the overall lead in the motorcycle section when he stormed to victory on the stage from Arequipa to Nasca, replacing France's Cyril Despres.

The KTM rider, who had been more than two minutes off the lead overnight, led home fellow Spaniards Joan Barreda Bort, on a Husqvarana, by 2min 43sec, and KTM teammate Jordi Viladoms, 3min 10sec off the pace.

French rider Despres, who had snatched the lead back from Coma on Thursday, was fourth on the day and now stands in second place overall, 1min 35sec behind.

"It was a difficult day. I set off four minutes after Cyril and I managed to catch up with him," said Coma.

"For the entire first part of the special I mainly focused on navigation, because there was absolutely no room for mistakes. After that, I knew that there would be good opportunities to attack in the second part and that's where I managed to regain ground on Cyril. It's no way near over, because there's another big stage tomorrow."

With just two stages left, Despres said he was looking forward to the concluding weekend.

"It was a magnificent stage, one of the finest specials that I've ridden on the Dakar over the last few years," said Despres, the 2005, 2007 and 2010 winner.

"I expected that Marc was going to catch up with me and that it wouldn't be a good day. But I don't have any regrets, because I attacked throughout the first part. You have to go for broke on this Dakar; it's not a race where you can play the waiting game.

"Against Marc Coma, I'm doing battle with an excellent rider. He's quick and clever."