Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
WRC Munchis, Federico Villagra - Tango Rally Team - WRC Argentina 2009
Federico Villagra & his Muchis WRC Ford - Tango Rally Team new premises
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Dakar 2009: South African Nissan Navaras finish fourth, fifth and 20th on Dakar Rally
Three privately-entered Nissan Navaras, built by Nissan Motorsport in South Africa have finished fourth, fifth and 20th in the Dakar Rally Argentina-Chile, which ended in Buenos Aires on Saturday afternoon after 15 gruelling days' racing across two continents and over the Andes Mountains.
Norwegian adventurer and mountain climber Ivar Erik Tollefsen and his English co-driver Quin Evans, regular competitors in the South African off road championship, finished a remarkable fourth overall in their Nissan Navara pickup competing under the banner of Team Overdrive of Belgium. They completed the 9 500-km ultra marathon cross country race in a time of 44 hr 15 min 31 sec and were 6 hr 4 min 34 sec behind the winners,
Fifth overall, 33 min 15 seconds behind Tollefsen and Evans, was former Polish rally champion Krzysztof Holowczyc and his Belgian co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin in a second Team Overdrive Navara. The third proudly South African Nissan, crewed by Hungarian cross country champions Laszlo Palik and Gabor Darazsi, finished 20th, 27 hr 22 min 19 seconds behind the winners.
"South Africans can be very proud today," added Hall. "Not only did our Navara pickups survive the world's toughest off road race, but there were also two South Africans in the first two cars - Giniel de Villiers in the winning Touareg and his team-mate Ralph Pitchford, who was co-driver in the second-placed Touareg.
"Giniel is a former national off road champion in one of our Nissan Hardbody pickups and joined Volkswagen's
"We knew that our racing Navara was a strong vehicle - we've won the national off road championship for the last three years - but to have this kind of affirmation is really satisfying. We have customers all over the world and have already delivered 10 of these vehicles to customers around the world."
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Dakar 2009: CELEBRATED LIKE HEROES
The 31st edition of the Dakar, the first one in Latin-America, is now over and has seen the victories of Marc Coma in the bike category, Josef Machacek in the quad category, Giniel De Villiers in the car category and Firdaus Kabirov in the truck category. In total, 113 bikers, 13 quad riders, 91 car teams and 54 truck teams finished the rally-raid, that was notably marked by the exceptional enthusiasm the Dakar generated amongst the crowds in Argentina and in Chile.
BIKE RAID: COMA, THE VERY BEST ON TWO WHEELS
In the bike race, Marc Coma made THE performance of the year by leading the rally from start to finish. A feat unseen since 1997 in a Dakar-Dakar when someone called Stéphane Peterhansel had taken command of the raid the moment he started it en route to Tambacounda. Headed for the Argentinian Pampa, Spain’s Coma hit hard right away. A true slap in the face for his adversaries who suffered because of tire problems: Coma stole 41’ to a desperate Despres, 1h01’ to a David Casteu in tears. Only Frétigné managed to limit the damage by "only" conceding 28’ to Coma.
Two weeks and a few more rear tire problems for his contenders later, the tough Catalan won his second Dakar after a last stage where he just followed his main rivals from a safe but sure distance. At the end of a well-raced raid, Coma won wisely with a 1h25’ lead over Despres and 1h38’ over Frétigné. Three years after his first Dakar victory, the KTM-Repsol rider gave Spain his third victory on the rally-raid.
Unable to catch up on the undoubted leader, Cyril Despres did however win 4 special stages - against 3 for Coma -, which brings his stage victory total to 20. Third of the Dakar, David Frétigné, riding his "small" Yamaha, had his best performance ever on the raid winning at the same time the 450cc category race. In the standings of this 31st edition, we will also note the presence of the best woman in the Dakar, Dutch female biker Mirjam Pol, ranking 53rd in the standings. Her countryman, Rob Van Pelt, 33rd wins the bike amateur standings that rewards those bikers who rode without assistance.
In the quad race, Josef Machacek was the bravest of all 13 riders to finish the Dakar - there were 25 of them at the start. The Czech who is almost 52 years old was - once again - amazingly steady, winning 4 special stages and finishing the 10 others in the Top 3. The Yamaha rider wins here his fifth Dakar. He finishes 2h35’ ahead of local hero Marcos Patronelli, second in the standings. The other top performer of the quad race is Elisabeth Kraft, who enters the history of the Dakar by being the first woman to finish the rally-raid on this funny machine called quad.
CAR RAID: LEARNING TO BE PATIENT
If there are areas where chance is only a marginal factor, it is indeed the world of enduro racing and mechanics. The success of Volkswagen taught those who did not know it that victories are built in the long run, especially in a race like the Dakar. The investment of the German manufacturer, whose goal was to bring the first diesel engine to victory on the most demanding of all rally-raids, started in 2003. After hesitation, progress, confirmation and tough times, it’s in 2009 that the Race Touareg reached its goal by being the master of the race from the beginning till the end.
If the dramatic turn of events of stage 12 - the fatal crash of Carlos Sainz - deprived VW of a Grand Slam, the three remaining cars finished the race in the Top 6 with Giniel De Villiers and Mark Miller ranking first and second. With 10 stage victories out of 13, the crews of Kris Nissen did not leave much to their contenders. This might seem a bit harsh for the others in the race but it responds to a firm will of preserving the whole team from the worst. By the way, the profile of the new winner of the rally corresponds perfectly to the demands of the Dakar. In his five previous participations, the South-African driver gave the impression of being steady and making progress at all times; his victory this year is also the victory of his patience.
And patience is also exactly what Team Mitsubishi must start learning. After an uninterrupted series of 7 victories and a track record with 12 titles in total, the Japanese team finished this Dakar with just one car out of four ranking fourth in the general standings. Since they arrived on the Dakar in 1984, the absence of the Mitsu drivers on the final podium only happened twice before in 1990 and in 1994. This year, Hiroshi Masuoka, Luc Alphand and then Stéphane Peterhansel all left the race prematurely. The last of the Mohicans at Mitsu, Joan "Nani" Roma did his very best to keep his place in the top 3 but collapsed in the stage of La Rioja. His proud reaction the next day when he got the best clock in the Cordoba stage is a very small consolation price for the team: indeed, in order to successfully convert the cars to diesel engines, the engineers and technicians still have a long way to go.
The race through elimination also touched the X-Raid team with the exclusion of Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, when he was in the lead of the general standings. The level of performance of the BMW X3 had allowed him to win two stages but his lack of reliability forced his to drive around a line of dunes, which led to his exclusion from the raid. Argentina’s Orlando Terranova, who was starting to impose himself slowly upon the elites, had to withdraw from the race after a major driving error.
In the T2 category, Nicolas Gibon gives a new victory to Toyota in this category and also - more importantly - ends up in 14th position in the general standings, whereas the best vehicles engaged in the Production category tend to generally rank around the 40th position. His closest contender, Xavier Foj, also demonstrated the competitiveness of T2s as he finishes 16th of the rally-raid.
Finally, the only 100% female crew registered to start in Buenos Aires, with Florence Migraine Bourgnon behind the wheel and Clémence Joyeux handling the road book, managed to finish the raid and ranks 86th in the general standings. As to the last one in the general standings (91st!), he is also a winner in his own right in his category as Jose Manuel Salinero was the only one who drove the whole Dakar alone in his car.
TRUCK RAID: KAMAZ GETS BACK WHAT WAS HIS
From the first to the last stage in the truck raid, the race was intense and there were many unexpected turns of events. From day one on, it was the Dutch participants who stood out. Van Vliet won the stage and became the first leader of this Dakar in front of De Rooy, while Chagin was only 7th. But the real turn of events of this opening went to Hans Stacey. A flat tire relegated him 39 minutes behind the pack and started the list of his setbacks. The leader of Team Man withdrew at the start of stage 8. Young De Rooy benefited from it to leave his mark on the early stages of this Dakar. Leader as of day 2, De Rooy stayed in the lead for four days and won a total of three stages. But the Dutch mark on the rally was going to fade at mid-raid and give way to the Russian trucks. Kabirov took the lead in the general standings at the end of stage 6, which opened a fascinating pursuit between the many-time winners of the Kamaz team. Chagin and Kabirov took turns at winning stages and at taking the lead in the general standings, and fought a spectacular fight with no mercy. The conclusion of this fight happened in the last special stage when Firdaus Kabirov finished just 30’’ ahead of Chagin and won his second Dakar, pushing Chagin back at 3’39’’ in the standings. Only Gerard De Rooy sort of stood his ground in this final stage and ends up getting third place on the podium, right in front of Mardeev. With 3 trucks out of 3 in the four first places of the general standings, this year, the Kamaz trucks were simply untouchable.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Dakar 2009: De Villiers claims historic Dakar win
| By Matt Beer | Saturday, January 17th 2009, 14:16 GMT |
Mark Miller completed a VW one-two, as this year's dominant team cruised through the final days over an hour clear of the rest of the field.
It should have been a top three sweep for VW, had Carlos Sainz not crashed out of the lead on Thursday. The former World Rally champion had led for most of the rally, only to slide into a ravine with just two days to go, leaving his co-driver Michel Perin with shoulder injuries that forced them to withdraw.
With Miller losing a lot of time in the same stage, de Villiers suddenly vaulted from a distant third - 41 minutes adrift - into the rally lead, where he remained through today's deciding run from Cordoba back to Buenos Aires.
"Absolutely incredible," said de Villiers, who was also fastest in the final stage. "I've never experienced such a feeling before. I was very nervous in the last couple of kilometres, but it's an unbelievable feeling.
"I'm so happy for the team and everyone back at Volkswagen, who've been supporting us for five years to get this win."
Miller drove conservatively and ultimately finished eight minutes behind his victorious teammate.
"The team won, that was our goal," he said. "It could have been Giniel or me, and that's the way it works. I'm a young guy and I'm going to have plenty of chances, I hope."
While VW celebrated, it was a disastrous event for Mitsubishi. The winners of the last seven Dakars hoped their brand new diesel Lancer could continue that streak, but took just one fastest stage time, never led the event, and lost three of their four works cars early on. Joan Roma's eventual 10th place was little consolation.
With Mitsubishi under-performing, the X-Raid BMW team proved to be VW's main rivals. Nassar Al-Attiyah battled for the lead with Sainz in the opening days, only to be disqualified for missing waypoints while trying to protect an overheating engine.
Third place finally went to Robby Gordon, despite the Hummer driver having some late scares with a stuck throttle yesterday and a flat tyre today. But with a vast advantage over Overdrive Nissan drivers Ivar Erik Tollefsen and Krzysztof Holowczyc in fourth and fifth places, Gordon was still able to make it home in third.
Dakar 2009 Last Stage - Cordoba - Buenos Aires: De Villiers, Coma, Machacek the winners of the Rally-Raid
The last stage of the 2009 Dakar Argentina - Chile has come to and end, finally. South African Giniel de Villiers (VW)in the cars category, Spaniard Marc Coma (KTM)in bikes and Czech Machacek (Yamaha) in quads are the new crowns of the famous rally. Still to finish, the trucks are now racing the final stage. Second overall to De Villiers (who won this last stage) is his VW partner from the USA, Mark Miller (second in the stage), Frenchman Cyril Deprés (3rd in the stage) is second overall to Coma (6th in the stage) also with KTM, and Argentinian Marcos
Patronelli (7th in the stage) with a Can-Am quad came in second to Machacek (2nd in the stage), a wonderful feat for a Dakar rookie, who won 3 stages. Robby Gordon (Hummer USA) suffered a puncture at km 80 of the final stage but arrived in 18th place, placing him as 3rd overall. Norwegian Tollefsen (Nissan)(10th in the stage) is in 4th place overall after a fantastic race together with his partner from Poland Holowicz (Nissan)(3rd in the stage). Spaniard Nani Roma (Mitsubishi) came in 4th in the stage and finished 10th overall, the last survivor of the RalliArt team.
Final Overall Standings
Friday, January 16, 2009
Dakar 2009 - Stage 13 - La Rioja - Cordoba: Nani Roma wins stage for Mitsubishi at last
Pending validation by the race stewards, Spaniard Nani Roma (Mitsubishi) has given the Japanese manufacturer its first stage victory on this 31st
hitting a big boulder, the
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
"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."
"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
TEAM
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
Dakar 2009: Mitsubishi´s Roma survives marathonstage
Mitsubishi's Joan 'Nani' Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both
Lucas Cruz Senra: "It was obviously a hard stage. There were a lot of areas of camel grass and that made it tough. We struggled a little. I stopped on one occasion to take some air out of the tires, because the sand is very soft. The road book was not so good today. One modification was totally opposite to the real direction we had to take and we lost one or two kilometers." (Marathonrally.com)
Dakar 2009 - Stage 12 - Quotes from VW crews
Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"The most important news is that the accident of Carlos Sainz and Michel Périn did not result in any severe personal injuries. Both of them are very disappointed that the ‘Dakar’ is over for them, but at the same time they’re relieved that with a shoulder injury for Michel the incident did not result in really serious consequences. We wish Michel a speedy recovery. But – we knew that to win, we’d first have to overcome the ‘Dakar’ itself. With Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford we’ve still got two irons in the fire to win the Dakar Rally with the Race Touareg and TDI power.”
#301 – Carlos Sainz (E), retired
"Suddenly, a four-metre deep hole appeared in front of us. We fell into it and landed on our roof. A BMW and Nani Roma were able to get around us at the last moment. The BMW team stopped and helped us to put the car back on its wheels. In the meantime an ASO doctor had arrived who briefly checked Michel Périn and barred him from continuing the drive on account of a shoulder injury. The Race Touareg was by and large okay, the engine was running. Of course we were lucky in this situation as well. I’m very disappointed and I’m very sorry for the team that we´re out, but I’m hoping that our team will win in the end anyhow.”
"The most important news is that the accident of Carlos Sainz and Michel Périn did not result in any severe personal injuries. Both of them are very disappointed that the ‘Dakar’ is over for them, but at the same time they’re relieved that with a shoulder injury for Michel the incident did not result in really serious consequences. We wish Michel a speedy recovery. But – we knew that to win, we’d first have to overcome the ‘Dakar’ itself. With Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford we’ve still got two irons in the fire to win the Dakar Rally with the Race Touareg and TDI power.”
#301 – Carlos Sainz (E), retired
"Suddenly, a four-metre deep hole appeared in front of us. We fell into it and landed on our roof. A BMW and Nani Roma were able to get around us at the last moment. The BMW team stopped and helped us to put the car back on its wheels. In the meantime an ASO doctor had arrived who briefly checked Michel Périn and barred him from continuing the drive on account of a shoulder injury. The Race Touareg was by and large okay, the engine was running. Of course we were lucky in this situation as well. I’m very disappointed and I’m very sorry for the team that we´re out, but I’m hoping that our team will win in the end anyhow.”#301 – Michel Périn (F), co-driver"About 30 kilometres before our accident we’d lost our way but soon found the right route again. We were heading towards the next waypoint, I counted down the distance – as always – and just as I was saying ‘20 metres’ we dropped into this whole. Even the days before, the roadbook had not been particularly accurate and today we paid the price for it. I broke a shoulder blade in the accident and that ended the rally for me and Carlos. I’m very sorry for the team. But I’m hoping that in the end a ‘blue’ vehicle will finish in front.”
#305 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
"It was an incredibly rough day for us. Although the special stage today was short, it was extremely slow. The organiser selected routes with large stones, deep and super-soft sand. In addition, there were some places left out in the roadbook, which of course made the navigation extremely difficult. But about five kilometres before the finish my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz made up a lot of time for us when he found the quickest way while others were still looking for it.”
#307 – Dieter Depping (D), 4th place leg / 7th place overall"I think today wasn’t just 100 per cent ‘Dakar’, it was more like 120 per cent ‘Dakar’. The dunes were incredibly hard to
handle, lots of vegetation that made life difficult for us, and we had to cross riverbeds several times. My co-driver Timo Gottschalk had his work cut out for him. Many branch-offs were hard to see and the roadbook led us astray several times today as well. So, today had everything a rally day could offer.”
#308 – Mark Miller (USA), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall"Today is one of those days where there’s a lot to talk about. The special stage has definitely been the most difficult one of this ‘Dakar’ so far. Particularly in the sand we had to work hard, we got stuck several times and had to dig ourselves out. On several occasions we let some air out of the tyres and filled them up again after the difficult passages.
Once we got stuck, and when I left the car I only then realized we’d lost the rear part of the body – I haven’t noticed beforehand that we’d lost it at all. We were leading for a long time, but lost time again at the end. The overall gap between me and my team colleague Giniel de Villiers is small now – but the main thing is that a Volkswagen will be in front in the end.”
#305 – Giniel de Villiers (ZA), 1st place leg / 1st place overall
"It was an incredibly rough day for us. Although the special stage today was short, it was extremely slow. The organiser selected routes with large stones, deep and super-soft sand. In addition, there were some places left out in the roadbook, which of course made the navigation extremely difficult. But about five kilometres before the finish my co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz made up a lot of time for us when he found the quickest way while others were still looking for it.”#307 – Dieter Depping (D), 4th place leg / 7th place overall"I think today wasn’t just 100 per cent ‘Dakar’, it was more like 120 per cent ‘Dakar’. The dunes were incredibly hard to
handle, lots of vegetation that made life difficult for us, and we had to cross riverbeds several times. My co-driver Timo Gottschalk had his work cut out for him. Many branch-offs were hard to see and the roadbook led us astray several times today as well. So, today had everything a rally day could offer.”#308 – Mark Miller (USA), 2nd place leg / 2nd place overall"Today is one of those days where there’s a lot to talk about. The special stage has definitely been the most difficult one of this ‘Dakar’ so far. Particularly in the sand we had to work hard, we got stuck several times and had to dig ourselves out. On several occasions we let some air out of the tyres and filled them up again after the difficult passages.
Once we got stuck, and when I left the car I only then realized we’d lost the rear part of the body – I haven’t noticed beforehand that we’d lost it at all. We were leading for a long time, but lost time again at the end. The overall gap between me and my team colleague Giniel de Villiers is small now – but the main thing is that a Volkswagen will be in front in the end.”Thursday, January 15, 2009
Dakar 2009 - Stage 12: Fiambala - La Rioja: Sainz crashes out of Dakar rally
Dakar leader Carlos Sainz has crashed out of the rally during the 12th stage of the event.
The Spaniard, who was leading comfortably with just three stages left, careered into a ravine after 79 km of the day's special stage, damaging his Volkswagen beyond repair.
His co-driver Michel Perin is reported to have injured his shoulder, but both men arrived by helicopter at the bivouac in Fiambala.
Sainz' exit leaves teammate Giniels de Villers in the lead, pending the end of today's stage.
The 3 first cars have now reached the end of this 12th stage and - against all odds - it is South-African driver Giniel De Villiers (VW), who was timed 3rd, 2’12" behind Miller at CP2, who wins. This is his 3rd stage victory this year and his 11th on a Dakar. More importantly, with a 16’17" over his US team-mate Mark Miller (VW), De Villiers is now taking the lead in the general standings after the withdrawal of Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (VW) today. 3rd fastest clock today, 25’27" behind the winner, American driver Robby Gordon (Hummer) is now more than 1h15" behing the leaders in the general standings.
Michel Périn (copilot to C. Sainz - 301 - VW) - 301
We had made a small mistake in the first part. We took the wrong direction at a Y crossing but it was not too bad because we did end up on the right trail. We were tailing Giniel De Villiers who had started about 10’ after us so it was still sort of OK. Then there was a hidden waypoint with a wadi indicated as ’danger’. But it should have been indicated as ’extremely dangerous’. By the way, the car behind us, Nani Roma’s car, would have fallen in the same hole as we did if we had not been there already. I’m ok; I just have something broken in my arm, but I’m alright.
Giniel De Villiers (Afs - Volkswagen) - 305
"It was really a tough stage. In places we would go around in circles for 15’ to find the right trail. It was very dangerous and the sand was really soft. We stopped a first time to deflate our tyres. Then a second time in a huge canyon with tons of boulders. Dirk (Von Zitzewitz) had to get out of the car to find a way out. It was really a tough day."
Patronelli hits hard!
The first 3 quads have now reached the end of the day’s special stage and Argentinian driver Marcos Patronelli (Can-Am) is today’s winner; this is his 3rd stage victory of the rally and a big one it is with a 35’56" (!) lead over leader in the general standings, Czech driver Josef Machacek (Yamaha), and 36’02" over Frenchman Hubert Deltrieu (Polaris).
3rd stage victory for Despres
The first 7 bikes have now reached the finish of today’s special stage and French rider Cyril Despres (KTM) wins the stage; it is the Frenchman’s third stage victory in this 31st edition of the Dakar, he finishes with a 1’23" lead on the leader in the general standings, Spain’s Marc Coma (KTM), and 9’51" ahead of France’s David Casteu (KTM).
A surprising third place for Farrès Guell!
After starting today’s stage 20th this morning, Spain’s Gerard Farrès Guell (KTM) had the 3rd fastest clock of the day’s special stage, finishing 9’47" behind winner Cyril Despres (KTM), but 4" ahead of French rider David Casteu (VW), who is now fourth of today’s stage.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Dakar 2009 - Stage 7: Volkswagen leads the Dakar Rally with three Race Touareg cars
Volkswagen leads the Dakar Rally with three Race Touareg cars, ahead of Saturday’s rest day and after seven of the 14 legs.
Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn took over at the top on the seventh leg of the rally from Mendoza in Argentina to the Chilean city of Valparaíso. The former front-runners and Volkswagen team colleagues, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz, trail them by just nine seconds. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford, driving a third Race Touareg with a 280 hp TDI diesel engine, are now third overall.
Carlos Sainz achieved his third leg victory on today’s difficult leg, which included the first Andes crossing of this first "Dakar” to be held in South America, thus placing him back at the top of the leader board. The day’s special stage was shortened from 419 to 243 kilometres due to inclement weather and rainfall overnight resulted in some treacherous driving conditions. Mark Miller is celebrating a double victory, having posted the second fastest time of the day and thus having given his best performance so far in this year’s legendary "Dakar”, which has been a tough one right from the start.
Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz ceded their lead today, after losing time due to a puncture and visibility problems on today’s muddy route, and were the sixth team to cross the finishing line. Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk, who lost a lot of time in the fourth Race Touareg yesterday, made good ground today to take twelfth place, moving them up in the overall rankings to ninth.
Volkswagen’s appraisal after seven legs: Volkswagen can lay claim to five leg victories and five days of leading the rally, and now dominates the event ahead of Mitsubishi, who have remained unbeaten in the "Dakar” since 2001. The second half of this desert classic will get under way on Sunday, after Saturday’s rest day which will primarily serve as an opportunity to thoroughly service the rally vehicles. Seven legs now remain, covering a total distance of 4,622 kilometres.
Coming up …
Saturday, 10 January: Rest day, Valparaíso (RCH). The rally vehicles won’t be going anywhere on the eighth day of the "Dakar”. But the sole rest day during the toughest rally in the world will only mean a welcome break for the drivers and co-pilots at best, as the mechanics will be giving the race vehicles a thorough going-over in the Chilean port of Valparaíso. Meanwhile, the racers can lap up the attention of the media spotlight. (VW-Motorsport)
Friday, January 9, 2009
Dakar 2009: Stage 6 - San Rafael - Mendoza: Mitsubishi challenge down to two Lancer.
The sixth stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally between San Rafael and Mendoza marked a day that Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart would rather forget, after team co-driver Gilles Picard (France) was taken ill on the special stage and forced the immediate retirement of his driver Luc Alphand (France) from the race.
Team mates Stephane Peterhansel (France) and Joan 'Nani' Roma (Spain) finished the stage with the fifth and sixth fastest times, but now hold sixth and fifth in the overall standings and face an uphill struggle to regain the lost time over the coming days.
Today's special stage was originally shortened from 394km to 232km and then to 178km because of the risk of standing water caused by recent rainfall. Event officials sent a route vehicle into the stage on Wednesday to monitor a river crossing which was already 80cm high and the decision was taken to skip the section on safety grounds.
Mitsubishi's mechanics finally completed the work on Peterhansel's and Jean-Paul Cottret's (France) 'Racing Lancer' just before the pair were scheduled to leave the bivouac and head into the liaison section to the sixth stage to Mendoza.
Peterhansel had incurred a 15-minute penalty in San Rafael on Wednesday evening for missing a time control. He eventually set the fifth fastest time.
Luc Alphand (France) was forced to withdraw from the Dakar Rally 12km after the start of the stage this morning, when co-driver Gilles Picard (France) was taken ill assisting Alphand in putting plates under a wheel when they were stuck in the mud. As a precaution he was airlifted to the bivouac in San Rafa?l for medical checks, but Alphand was unable to continue. Picard then underwent an electro-cardiogram test and everything was normal.
Joan 'Nani' Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (Spain) held sixth position through the opening passage control and maintained his position to the finish. (Marathonrally.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)