Guo Hongzhi became the second Chinese to quit the Dakar Rally after his car suffered gearbox failure on Wednesday.

Veteran rally driver Lu Ningjun, of the Rely-Double Star Rally Team, who was expected to take part in the world's most grueling rally for the seventh time, pulled out before the start of the event because his Chery Rely X5 had an oil leak.

However, Lu's teammate Liu Kun, taking part in the rally for the first time at the wheel of a Chery Rely X5, moved up in the standings after finishing 44th in the fourth stage, a 207-km trek from Jujuy in Argentina to Calama in Chile.

Liu, nicknamed the King of Desert in China, is now 49th overall and the second Chinese driver to crack the top 50.

Zhou Yuande is 38th overall. He finished 34th in the fourth stage in two hours, 45 minutes and 31 seconds.

Jiang Yaohuan of the Rely-Double Star team, who was 29th overall in the 2010 event, was 36th in the fourth stage and is now 75th overall.

Two other Chinese, Ma Junkun and Zhou Yong, are 68th and 71st.

In motorcycling, Su Wenmin took three hours, 33 minutes and 23 seconds to complete the fourth stage and is 95th overall in that category. Han Baohua fared worse with a time of four hours, 15 minutes and 17 seconds and is now 148th.