Yesterday’s eighth day of the Dakar Rally, during which the competitors crossed the Andes into Chile, saw overall leader Nani Roma lose some ground to the chasing pack – with Nasser Al-Attiyah charging hard to improve his own standing, as well as defending champion Stephane Peterhansel.
The stage favoured the faster drivers, with Al-Attiyah particularly in his element as the surface got softer – opening up on his X-Raid Mini team mates Peterhansel, Orlando Terranova, Krzysztof Holowczyc and Roma. The only other contender to break up the Mini party was Carlos Sainz in his SMG buggy. The Spaniard eventually finished the stage 2 min 36 second behind Al-Attiyah – the third fastest time, while Peterhansel limited the damage to just 1 minutes 12 seconds behind the Qatari.
“Everybody was pushing but it looks like we’ve won the stage, so I’m quite happy. I’ve learned a lot about the car. For now it looks like we’ve got a good time and I hope to be on the podium, but it’s still a long way,” Al-Attiyah said at the bivouac.
South African Giniel De Villiers might have fared better than seventh fastest (9 minutes 21 seconds behind the stage winner) had he not been stuck behind the X-Raid Mini of Vladimir Vasilyev for the majority of the special.
“He (Vasilyev) doesn’t know the rules of the game. We caught him after 170 km. In the off-road I was right behind him, like 20 or 30 metres behind him and we were on the sentinel for I don’t know how long. Then I caught him again in the off-road and put the sentinel on again. We got past him, but then 20 km from then he put the sentinel on to me. I thought it was Terranova and I moved over and he came past again,” De Villiers said.
“He’s not even in the race, not even in the game, so I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Otherwise, we didn’t have a bad day, no problem with the car, just sitting in his dust for 100 km was very frustrating and it’s very tiring to drive like that,” the 2009 Dakar champion stated.
De Villiers’ team mate Poulter did much better after his steering issues on stage 7, finishing yesterday’s special in 29th position.
“We had a better day today and were able to pass a few cars and improve our position in the general classification. Overtaking was not easy as the tracks were narrow and the pace was very fast. We’ll have a much better start position for Tuesday’s stage and will be looking to make further progress through the field.”
Argentinian Lucio Alvarez had similar problems to De Villiers in the Neil Woolridge-run Ford Racing Ranger.
“It was hot and dry and there was dust throughout the stage which caused me a big problem. After about 30 km of the stage I had closed on the car ahead but the dust was too thick for me to get near enough to overtake. He did not move for us so there was nothing we could do. I drove for about 270 km trapped in his dust. It’s so frustrating because that ruined the stage for me. Apart from that I had no other problems and the Ranger performed well, “ Alvarez said.
OVERALL STANDINGS
CAR RANKINGS
1. Roma #304 (Mini All4) = 29 hours 46 minutes 8 seconds
2. Peterhansel #300 (Mini All4) + 23 minutes 46 seconds
3. De Villiers #302 (Toyota Hilux) + 48 minutes 25 seconds
4. Terranova #307 (Mini All4) + 51 minutes 55 seconds
5. Al-Attiyah #301 (Mini All4) + 1 hour 9 minutes 5 seconds
17. Rundle #404 (Toyota Hilux) + 6 hours 16 minutes 56 seconds
30. Poulter #323 (Toyota Hilux) + 10 hours 30 minutes 28 seconds
41. Alvarez #308 (Ford Ranger) + 13 hours 29 minutes 37 seconds
BIKE RANKINGS
1. Coma #2 (KTM) = 32 hours 6 minutes 19 seconds
2. Barreda #3 (Honda) + 38 minutes 38 seconds
3. Viladoms #4 (KTM) + 1 hour 27 minutes 22 seconds
4. Duclose #22 (Sherco) + 1 hour 49 minutes 9 seconds
5. Israel Esquerre (Speedbrain) + 1 hour 52 minutes 2 seconds
13. Van Niekerk #30 (KTM) + 3 hours 42 minutes 19 seconds
31. Cummings #59 (KTM) + 7 hours 43 minutes 20 seconds
