Pending validation by the race stewards, Spaniard Nani Roma (Mitsubishi) has given the Japanese manufacturer its first stage victory on this 31st Dakar, which is also Nani’s first stage victory on four-wheels in a Dakar! In this 13th stage, the Spaniard took the lead by 7’18" over Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc (Nissan), and by 7’27" over French driver Guerlain Chicherit (BMW). However there has been no change in the general standings where South-African driver Giniel De Villiers (VW) is still in command, 2’20" ahead of his US team-mate Mark Miller (VW), and 1h27’13" ahead of the Hummer of Robby Gordon. Victim of a mechanical problem after
hitting a big boulder, the US driver still holds the lead in the Open category but looses his first stage in this category to his team-mate, Frenchman Eric Vigouroux. Finally, in the Production category, Japanese driver Jun Mitsuhashi (Toyota) has won stage 13 but it is still France’s Nicolas Gibon (Toyota) who leads the general standings.
Joan "Nani" Roma (Esp - MITSU) - 304
Yesterday was a stage like there are many on rally-raids. You must always expect this kind of ups and downs on a race like the Dakar. Today, I drove well. The car responded well too. This stage victory is a satisfaction for everybody. Now, we are going to go back to Buenos Aires without taking too much risk. I am not disappointed at the end of this Dakar.
Krisztof Holowczyc (Pol – Nissan) - 317
"Today was a great stage for me. It’s funny because this morning, Jean Marc (Fortin) and I, we were saying: ’do you remember back in 1999, we had lost a wheel of our Subaru in WRC right here. It was rather easy for us, not too heavy on the car that does lack a bit of power. In the sand, we loose time but on this type of trail, it’s easy to drive. Some parts of the special stage were the same as in the WRC Rally of Argentina. This allows drivers to express their talents on more technical sections."
Giniel De Villiers (Afs - Volkswagen) - 305
"I think we can call this a team stage. The most important is to reach the finish particularly after loosing a car yesterday. The manager wanted us to drive like this today and we abide by the wishes of the team. It’s important for Volkswagen to finish the Dakar in first and second places. We don’t want to take any chances anymore. It would be meaningless. We worked hard to get to this and throwing it all away on the last two stages would not be clever. For now, I am happy of my Dakar. It could have been better. But this is how it goes with the Dakar."
TEAM DAKAR USA
Posted by on Jan 16, 2009, 18:26
“Obviously, I wish that the No. 309 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer would have had a better outcome today. Regardless of a pesky little rock getting in our way, I am still happy with where we stand going into the last stage tomorrow. Even though we haven’t won any specials yet this year, we are still here competing for the Dakar Rally title and that is what that matters. This race is about survival and preparation, and Team Dakar USA has excelled at both. We have been able to address the problems, fix them, and continue forward. Both cars are still in the race, and I couldn’t be more proud of the Team Dakar USA program,” commented Robby Gordon.
Standings after Stage 13
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