The 2012 Dakar Rally special stage between San Juan and Chilecito proved a challenging prospect with punishing rocky conditions proving a fertile ground for flat tyres and navigational errors.. While the X-Raid Minis put in a good show with Peterhansel’s 58th stage win setting up an overall third-place finish for the team, the brace of Hilux racers piloted by Argentinian Orlando Terranova and Giniel de Villiers finished the special stage second and third, respectively.
Punishing heat, rocks, mud and the stunning backdrop of the Rioja canyons were among the distractions, both welcome and otherwise, with which this year’s contenders had to compete. Given the challenging nature of this 326 km stage, it’s little surprise that experience was to play a vital role in the final standings.
Stephane Peterhansel, who has already amassed 10 Dakar victories in both bike and four-wheeled disciplines, finished in 3 hours 49 minutes and 33 seconds, 5 minutes and 19 seconds ahead of Terranova and 6 minutes 42 seconds in front of de Villiers.
“We just stayed out of trouble to avoid getting lost or having flat tyres and with a very consistent pace from the beginning to the end. This strategy paid dividends! But I would have preferred not to lead the field tomorrow, since there will be no motorcycle tracks. This is not what I would have liked from a tactical point of view, but I think the others made a lot of mistakes, so we will race at the front,” Peterhansel said.
Toyota ‘works’ driver Giniel de Villiers, who is Peterhansel’s closest rival, finished third on the stage to narrow the gap between himself and the Mini X-Raid driver to 5 minutes 41 seconds.
“Today's special was a really tricky one, with all those rocks,” stated de Villiers. “We saw Nasser have problems less than 20 km from here, but we had no issues and set a high pace without taking too many risks. Tomorrow we are doing the Fiambala special, probably the toughest of the first week of racing, but I am not losing any sleep over it, since we know it well after doing this special for three years. So we will see how it goes! We will try to do our best and hope to achieve a good placing again.”
Peterhansel’s team mate (Joan) Nani Roma took fourth place to set him up in third on the overall standings followed by previous stage winner Krzysztof Holowczyc. This stage was to prove a treacherous one for the Hummer H3 pairing of Robby Gordon and defending Dakar Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah; the former now trailing Peterhansel by 16 minutes thanks to a delay caused by flat tyres and the latter now more than 30 minutes behind the leader after getting stuck in mud at the 288 km mark.
“Towards the end of the special, we got stuck in the mud and it took us a long time to get out of it… But the race is not over yet and we will try to do our best over the next ten days. I am starting to get the feel of my car. This morning we were moving at a great pace, setting the best times without pushing too hard. We actually overtook two of the Minis… So we will see what we can do,” said Al-Attiyah.
In the Bike category, Marc Coma secured his 18th Dakar career stage but he still has to make up ground to fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres with whom he was head-to-head for much of the stage. Coma is now 8 minutes and 10 seconds out of taking the overall lead. Sherco rider Frans Verhoeven placed third followed Helder Rodrigues, who placed third overall in the 2011 Dakar and now sits 27 minutes off the pace set by the KTMs.
Four of the top five best times in the Quad category belonged to Argentinian riders. Tomas Maffei was over five minutes ahead of former Dakar champions Alejandro and Marcos Patronelli in the stage, which now puts him nearly three minutes in the Quad overall standings to Alejandro. The remainder of the Quad field now sit at least an hour behind the top three Yamaha riders.
Gerard de Rooy took the Truck class stage win in his Iveco, with Miki Biasion second and Hans Stacey third. After the fourth stage the Iveco team holds all three overall podiums at this time thatnks to a strong showing from the de Rooy team has been strong since the start of this year’s event. A 40 second gap separates Stacey and Biason while Tatra’s Ales Loprais sits in fourth with Kamaz driver Artur Ardavichus occupying fifth.
Results after Stage 4 – 362 km special from San Juan to Chilecito
1. Stephane Peterhansel (France) Mini – 3hours 49min 33sec
2. Orlando Terranova (Argentina) Toyota +5min 19sec
3. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Toyota +6 min 42 sec
4. Nani Roma (Spain) Mini +7 min 35 sec
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Poland) Mini +10 min 51 sec
6. Carlos Sousa (Portugal) Great Wall +11 min 40 sec
7. Erik Wevers (Netherlands) Mitsubishi +13 min 17 sec
8. Duncan Vos (South Africa) Toyota 13 min 49 sec
9. Guilherme Spinelli (Brazil) Mitsubishi +14 min 11 sec
10. Leonid Novitzkiy (Russia) Mini +14 min 13 sec
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Stephane Peterhansel (France) Mini – 9 hours 43min 20 sec
2. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa) Toyota +5 min 41sec
3. Nani Roma (Spain) Mini +6 min 44 sec
4. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Poland) Mini +8min 10 sec
5. Robby Gordon (US) Hummer +16 min 23 sec
6. Leonid Novitzkiy (Russia) Mini +26 min 25 sec
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) Hummer +30 min 44 sec
8. Lucio Alvarez (Argentina) Toyota +33 min 11 sec
9. Erik Wevers (Netherlands) Mitsubishi +36 min 42 sec
10. Erik van Loon (Netherlands) Mitsubishi +41 min 47 sec
