Dakar 2009: Video of Stage 6 - Cars: Al-Attiyah excluded from the race

Standings after stage 6

Dakar 2009 - Video of Stage 5 - Cars

Dakar 2009 - Stage 6 - San Rafael - Mendoza - Breaking News: Al-Attiyah disqualified

Nasser Al-Attiyah has been disqualified for missing hidden waypoints on today's stage of the Argentina-Chile Dakar Rally. The Qatari was leading after yesterday's stage to Mendoza, but complained of overheating and a possible cracked cylinder head to his BMW engineers last night. Only 5 kms into the stage that was shortened from 394 to 178 kilometres, Al Attiyah soon found the water temperature rocketing to 130 degrees with the first dunes approaching. (Marathonrally.com)

Standings after stage 6

Dakar 2009: Stage 5, Neuquen-San Rafael: De Villiers wins as Al-Attiyah leads

By Pablo Elizalde Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 19:27 GMT

Giniel de Villiers scored his first stage win of the 2009 Dakar rally to move into second position in the overall standings after five days of the event.

In the longest special of the rally so far, the South African mastered the sand dunes to reach the finish line in first place with a time of 5h47:43.

The 506-km special from Neuquen to San Rafael proved to be the trickiest of the rally so far, and both Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah lost valuable time.

Sainz, who had led the rally until today, lost over 15 minutes after making a driving mistake and tearing off his front hood following a problem with his steering.

The Spaniard has dropped to third position in the overall standings, while BMW rival Al-Attiyah has moved into the lead, with de Villiers in second, just two minutes and 24 seconds adrift.

"I had to do 200 kms without power steering and the car was very hard to drive over the dunes," said Sainz. "And then in one of them we flipped the car."

Qatari Al-Attiyah also hit trouble after his engine began overheating.

"We stopped twice because the engine was overheating," said the new leader. "The temperature was very, very high and so we had to stop and clean everything."

De Villiers' teammate Dieter Depping was second in the stage, ahead of American Robby Gordon in the Hummer.

Stephane Peterhansel was the quickest Mitsubishi today, finishing in fifth positioon.

WTCC champion Yvan Muller, competing in a single-seater SMG buggy, was forced out of the event after his car caught fire following a collision with the truck of Portuguese driver Elisabete Jacinto. None of them were injured. (Autosport.com)

Standings after stage 5

Dakar 2009 - Video of Stage 4 - Cars/Autos

Dakar 2009: Video of Stage 3 - Cars

See a Robby Gordon video on-board his Hummer

Dakar 2009 - Stage 4: Interviews

Carlos Sainz (Esp – 301 – Volkswagen) - 301

“We started very well and very quickly. We soon caught up with Nasser Al Attiyah. When he realized it was us, he counter-attacked and we both continued to race at a very speedy pace, until I was able to overtake on an off-track section. However, just afterwards, I started loosing air from a tire. I had to stop and pump it back up, because it wasn’t a flat tire, just a slow puncture. I was regularly loosing tire pressure right up until the end of the special stage. I think I arrived with only half a kilo of pressure and must have won by just 5 of 6 seconds. It’s a shame, because I could have done better”.

---

Nasser Al Attiyah (Qat – 302 – BMW) - 302

“I think Carlos Sainz overtook me just before we reached the 100-km mark. After that, I followed on his tail and we raced up to the finish. It’s not a problem that he won the stage. It’s even a good thing for me that he will be leading the way for a stage where there should be sand dunes. I damaged the car a bit because there were plenty of trees and also a lot of overtaking to get past the bikers. So, we hit the odd tree, but fortunately it’s nothing serious. This Dakar is really going well and we’re right where we want to be!”

---

Giniel de Villiers (Zaf – 305 – BMW) - 305

“It wasn’t such a bad stage. I caught up with Dieter Depping who had a puncture. I saw Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al Attiyah. I was two minutes behind them. The route was very bumpy and undulating. It was difficult to go full throttle, attack and make up some ground. When you are two minutes behind, it isn’t all that easy to claw back time on the leaders. The stages are becoming more and more difficult. It’s a proper Dakar”.

Marc Coma (Esp – 2 – KTM) - 002

“It was a nice stage with some good riding at the beginning then a bit more navigation. The landscape changed, making it a bit more technical, and more physical because you start to feel all the efforts put in so far. Today, it was shorter but harder than the other days. It was a bit like Morocco, where the tricks are nice and quick. I didn’t have any problems with my tires. Since it was a shorter stage, we chose to use foam bibs, and I haven’t had any problems with them. What was strange was having to open 4 or 5 gates. They are cattle gates for keeping the cattle from leaving the farms. In the Patagonia - Atacama the tradition is to close them behind you so everyone is on an equal footing, but this time I left them open, especially as it was my team-mate Viladoms behind me!”

---

Jonah Street (Usa – 26 – KTM) - 026

“It was a nice day. Until refueling, I really enjoyed riding on these winding tracks. It was also good to be able to ride without having to constantly think about going easy on the tires, because on the first two stages, I had to slow down. I also liked the last part, because I knew there would be some off-track riding. When you have to ride without the others tracks, it’s even better”.

---

David Frétigné (Fra – 12 – Yamaha) - 012

“It was superb. We finished on the stony tracks, which were a bit quicker, with a crossing of a dry river where there was a big crowd to encourage us. It was a really great special, very varied. I’ve never had such a good time on the rally. It’s also the way the special stages are designed which helps. They are technical, interesting and require a lot of concentration. As a biker, that makes for great riding”.

Verhoeven opportunistic whilst Sainz takes control

On a stage that was mostly quick, which suited Marc Coma in theory, the leader of the general standings in the bike race lost part of his lead, slowed down by a mechanical problem. Frans Verhoeven won his first ever special stage on the Dakar. In the car category, Carlos Sainz carried off a twofold triumph, by winning the stage and also taking the lead in the general standings. 

What is true one day is not always thus the day after. The same could be said for Marc Coma, whose display between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madryn could give hope to the other lead

ing bikers in the rally. Having set off first, with the responsibility of leading the way, the Spaniard continued in much the same vein to start with as his brilliant showing yesterday, landing the best time at CP2, 2.20 ahead of Jonah Street. But he was only half way there! The situation took a turn for the worse on one of the quick sections of which he is so

 fond, when he was slowed down by a radiator problem. Frans Verhoven, renowned for his consistency, took advantage of this mishap to grab his first ever special stage victory on the Dakar, after having been water carrier for Cyril Despres in 2007. Indeed, his former team leader took second place on the day’s stage, 30 seconds behind and as a result climbs up to 12th place in the general standings. 

Many riders would still like to be in Marc Coma’s shoes however, since he has a lead of 13.47 over his new pursuer, Frans Verhoven. Provisional third place on the podium went to Jonah Street, who was 5th to cross the finishing line today. This 2nd stage also gave David Fretigné the opportunity to climb up to 4th position in the general standings. Only 24 seconds behind Cyril Despres on today’s special stage, the Yamaha rider confirmed that his 450cc has nothing to envy against the KTMs. 

In the car category, the first stage showed that the Volkswagen Race Touaregs would not be waiting in ambush for long, and today Carlos Sainz was the most capable at combining speed and wisdom. For Nasser Al Attiyah and Tina Thorner, yesterday’s winners, the task was proving that their talents as navigators were equal to their pure driving skills. At this level, small mistakes can change everything. Indeed, after a navigational error, when the crew had to execute a quick about-turn to avoid missing a WPM (way point marker, which drivers must pass through), the Qatari ended up behind Sainz and especially in a cloud of dust. Blinded by the Argentine version of fesh-fesh, Al Attiyah sensibly preferred to avoid potentially dangerous attacks. In these conditions, Carlos Sainz completed a faultless display, right up to the finishing line, with the day’s best time. As regards the Mitsubishis, Stéphane Peterhansel was not scared by the dust and his audacity paid off: he scored the second best time of the day, 1.14 behind Sainz. 

The first surprises occurred in the T2 category, in which Miki Biasion, former WRC world champion, lost his place as leader. The day’s winner in the category, Michel De Nora, at the wheel of a Toyota Land Cruiser, only managed to rack up a lead of 1.30 over Jérôme Hardy, in a Mitsubishi Pajero. However, for the moment, Mr. Consistency is Jun Mitsuhashi, a former winner of the “Production” category, who is showing great resistance. He is currently in 36th position in the provisional general standings. 

In the truck category, the turn that events are taking is starting to become a worry for title holder Hans Stacey, who, after only two special stages, is already 1:12.00 behind the race leader: Gerard De Rooy. The GINAF driver, who yesterday saw a stage victory slip through his grasp by just two seconds, was untroubled by the day’s route. He triumphed with a lead of 3.58 over Firdaus Kabirov and has taken the lead in the truck general standings. (Marathonrally.com)

Dakar 2009 - First Stage - COMA, ALONE IN THE PAMPA, BMWS ALL OVER THE PLACE

First Stage: Buenos Aires - Santa Rosa

Whilst Marc Coma’s victory was foreseeable for the first stage, the magnitude of his success and the catastrophes experienced by other bike race favorites put paid to most of the predictions. Despres and Casteu may have already seen their hopes for overall Dakar victory evaporate. In the car race, BMW met both with success,

 for Nasser Al Attiyah, and disappointment, with Guerlain Chicherit’s accident, after he started out of the blocks a bit too ambitiously.

Marc Coma’s methodology does not involve hesitation. He seems to have even grown in stature since the Dakar in 2007, where he was way ahead of all his pursuers in the first two decisive steps in Morocco, at Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate. On the inaugural special of this 31st edition, the Spaniard carved out a gulf between him and his rivals, confirming his unofficial status as the fastest rider in the world. Having started behind title holder Cyril Despres, the winner in 2006 already boasted the best intermediate time after 134 km of the race, 1” ahead. He used this first section to catch up with Despres, and what was to follow was a springboard to leaving him in his wake at CP 3 (after 248 km), with the race becoming a demonstration ride. On the 123 km of long straight tracks remaining, Coma showed the full extent of his power: at the finishing line at San Saladillo, he had to wait for almost half an hour before the first of his pursuers arrived. Finally, it was Jacek Czachor who came home in second position, with a gap to make up that would destabilize even the toughest of competitors: more than 22 minutes.

 There is no way of really knowing whether the pitfalls at the start of this event will be fatal to overall hopes. However, the situation has never been as critical in terms of final triumph for Cyril Despres. With uncertainty hanging over his choice of tires for this year before the start, the Frenchman received some sort of confirmation on this first special stage: he crossed the line with the rims bare on his rear wheel, 41 minutes behind Coma! Others misfortune rarely lessens his own distress, but David Casteu, a serious challenger for the title, also experienced problems with his tires. Following a puncture, he was forced to turn round and head back to CP2, where one of his team-mates, Emanuel Gyenes, gave him his rear wheel. In total, he has a deficit of 1:01.53 to make up on Coma over the next 13 stages if he still hopes to win.

The day also turned out to be a catastrophe for one of the drivers involved in the struggle for the lead, because Guerlain Chicherit, having gone through CP3 with the best time of the day, lost all hope of making an impression on the stage, and probably even on the whole event, by rolling his car onto its roof after 277 km. The outcome was not as pessimistic for Dieter Depping, who also flew through the first 250 kilometers, but then experienced electronic problems with his VW Race Touareg. He finished the stage an hour behind Nasser Al Attiyah, whose victory will probably not help to console the X-Raid team. However, for the Qatari, triumphant the last time out during the UAE Desert Challenge race, it was his second success on the Dakar, after the Nema-Nema loop in 2007. Today’s showing confirms his status as an outside chance for overall victory. 

Ultimately, the two biggest teams on the rally, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen, had to settle for battling for the runner-up position and other places. Carlos Sainz was the most convincing at this game, taking second place behind Al Attiyah, followed closely by his two team-mates, Giniel De Villiers and Mark Miller. Used to pursuing, the Mitsubishi drivers lost a bit of ground on their main rivals: Alphand finished 4.44 behind the day’s winner and Peterhansel 4.54. Just behind them, Argentine Orlando Terranova once again showed how competitive the BMW X-3s are, with a 7th-placed finish on his first day on the event.

Overall Standings here

View a Video of the Dakar cars in Buenos Aires and the podium at the obelisk