Buenos Aires, Jan 7 (IANS): Argentine Orlando Terranova won the third stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally.

Terranova maintained his sound form behind a Mini, and though he crashed at the end of the special Monday, the Argentinean fought back during the 542km third stage as he produced a sterling effort in the second part of the 284km special Tuesday, reports Xinhua.

Terranova finished the stage in two hours and 57.28 minutes. South African Giniel de Villiers from Toyota ranked second, lagging behind Terranova one minute and 54 seconds, while another Toyota driven by Saudi Arabia's Alrahji Zayed placed third.

With this win, Terranova moves to third overall in the standings led by teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah. As the 2011 champion and winner of Monday's stage, Al-Attiyah finished fifth in Tuesday's stage. Giniel de Villiers stays second overall.

As for the Peugeot team, Spaniard Carlos Sainz seems to be getting the hang of the new car and improving in performance terms with the day's fourth place, while fellow Peugeot veteran Stephane Peterhansel finished seventh in the stage.

In the motorbike section, Austria's Matthias Walkner, was a surprise winner of his first Dakar stage, ahead of KTM teammate and reigning champion Marc Coma and overall race leader Joan Barreda Bort of Spain.

Wednesday's fourth stage will start from Chilecito in Argentina and end in Copiapo in Chile. This year's event, the seventh in South America since its enforced transfer for security reasons from Africa, is the 37th of all time.