Yesterday’s treacherous 657 km Dakar special stage from San Juan to Chilecito for the cars and trucks saw almost half the field either drop out or lose time due to technical issues and navigational problems – this included SA’s Giniel de Villiers who suffered more power steering problems.
CARS
It was former WRC champion and 2010 Dakar winner Carlos Sainz who made the most of the arduous conditions through rocky tracks and riverbeds, capitalizing on the mistakes of the front-running X-Raid Minis and passing many rivals on his way to a 6 minute 4 seconds win margin – proving that the rear-wheel drive SMG buggy is not only built for dunes.
“At the beginning we had to drive in the dust, but little by little we managed to overtake several cars. We also got a bit lucky when, about 10 km before the finish, our power steering broke down in a narrow spot amid all the vegetation, but we easily made it to the finish all the same. In the second part there was a waypoint where we went right, but after a while we realised it had to be on the other side, so we headed left and we found it. No big deal, I think everyone made the same mistake,” the Spaniard stated.
Sainz was right, behind him the hoard of following Minis committed to the same navigational error, but eventually found their way in the dust and heat, with Peterhansel finishing second, closely followed by Nasser Al-Attiyah, local Federico Villagra, Nani Roma and Orlando Terranova.
South African Giniel de Villiers might have been right up there. The Imperial Toyota Hilux clocked the third fastest time halfway through the stage, but whereas the top two finishers for the day only had to stop for punctures, De Villiers was forced to stop due to mechanical issues.
“Once again, we had trouble with the power steering! The first part of the special went quite smoothly, but after 100 km in the second part we started to have problems with the steering power and we had to stop. In all honesty, I was quite amazed at our advantage over Sainz and Peterhansel, but it quickly melted away as we spent almost 15 minutes doing repairs. When we got going, we still had an oil leak in the pump of the power steering. We had to stop another four or five times to refill it with all the oil we had, but it wasn’t enough. In the end, we were lucky a spectator gave us some oil to get going again, or we’d still be there,” De Villiers said.
His team mate and fellow South African Leeroy Poulter also had a dismal fourth stage. After showing promising pace on day 3, he was also forced to stop because of damaged dampers and eventually finished the stage 3 hours 38 minutes 35 seconds (59th position) after the day’s winner. Compatriot Thomas Rundle fared better, achieving 17th – 45 minutes in arrears with the old-spec Dakar Hilux.
“We were lying second and were chasing Nani Roma when we hit a step-up at speed on a long straight section. The impact broke the right rear dampers and we were forced to stop. After the T4 truck arrived and we replaced the dampers we had no further problems. The car ran perfectly otherwise,” Poulter said.
TRUCKS
Dutchman Gerard de Rooy maintained his hold on the overall lead by managing his 26th stage win with his long-nosed Iveco, despite not being able to match the initial pace of Russian Andrey Karginov’s Kamaz. But consistency saw the overall leader through in the end.
“We made a small navigation mistake towards the end, when everyone went right but you actually had to go left, but it was no big deal. The only mishap was when I bumped my left wrist against the steering wheel, but it’s nothing to be worried about: some ice, a cold beer and everything will be okay,” De Rooy said at the finish.
BIKES
In the Bike category, Chilean Francisco Lopez laid down the law on his KTM during the second part of the first motorcycle marathon stage (no assistance overnight from teams), clocking the fastest times at each checkpoint, but was pipped to the finish by Spaniard Juan Pedrero Garcia’s Sherco. With defending champion Cyril Despres forced to stop to fix an electrical probem, rival Marc Coma breezed to the finish in third position.
South African Riaan Van Niekerk didn’t do his race any favours with a humble 69th position on his KTM – two hours after the first rider completed the stage – but compatriot and fellow KTM rider Brett Cummings fared better in 29th, 1 hour 28 minutes behind the overall stage winner. Cummings competes in a different class though, the Malle-moto, where he is currently ranked at 8 overall.
Today’s stage
Today the competitors face two special stages of 211 km and 205 km respectively, which combined with a 111 km neutralisation section and 385 km liaison route make for a mammoth 912 km worth of driving on the way to Tucuman from Chilecito.
OVERALL STANDINGS
CAR RANKINGS
1. Sainz #303 (SMG Buggy) = 14 hours 52 minutes 47 seconds
2. Roma #304 (Mini All4) + 2 minutes 6 seconds
3. Al-Attiyah #301 (Mini All4) + 6 minutes 56 seconds
4. Terranova #307 (Mini All4) + 13 minutes 8 seconds
5. Peterhansel #300 (Mini All4) + 18 minutes 10 seconds
6. De Villiers #302 (Toyota Hilux) + 39 minutes 10 seconds
20. Rundle #404 (Toyota Hilux) + 2 hours 57 minutes 46 seconds
29. Poulter #323 (Toyota Hilux) + 4 hours 11 minutes 43 seconds
62. Alvarez #308 (Ford Ranger) + 11 hours 12 minutes 17 seconds
BIKE RANKINGS
1. Barreda #3 (Honda) = 15 hours 39 minutes 53 seconds
2. Coma #2 (KTM) + 3 minutes 10 seconds
3. Lopez #5 (KTM) + 5 minutes 12 seconds
4. Duclos #22 (Sherco) + 25 minutes 55 seconds
5. Pain #6 (Yamaha) + 29 minutes 38 seconds
22. Van Niekerk #30 (KTM) + 2 hours 42 minutes 3 seconds
48. Cummings #59 (KTM) + 5 hours 3 minutes 26 seconds
TRUCK RANKINGS
1. De Rooy #501 (Iveco) = 16 hours 17 minutes 33 seconds
2. Van Vliet #508 (MAN) + 36 minutes 12 seconds
3. Karginov #506 (Kamaz) + 41 minutes 11 seconds
4. Nikolaev #500 (Kamaz) + 57 minutes 3 seconds
5. Stacey #507 (Iveco) + 59 minutes 42 seconds
