After the cancellation of Friday’s stage 6 due to exceptionally poor conditions, the Dakar field continued to finish the first week of the rally raid with a loop from and to the bivouac in Copiapo for stage 7. Triumphant were the Hummers of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Robby Gordon.
Qatari Al-Attiyah and Spaniard Lucas Cruz enjoyed a flawless stage, finishing seven minutes ahead of Americans Gordon and Johnny Campbell. Gordon overcame his slow start to the stage, gradually making up minutes on the leaders to finish 24 seconds ahead of the Mini of Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret.
“The car worked perfectly well today and we attacked from the beginning to the end of the special. We took a lot of risks to set the best time. Our objective is to claw back seven or eight minutes every day. And today we did it perfectly. We will do our best to repeat this performance in all stages from Monday onwards, or even try to do better. At any rate, we have no other choice if we still want to win the Dakar,” Al-Attiyah said on Saturday.
South African Giniel de Villiers and German Dirk Von Zitzewitz made back some time after their Hilux got delayed in the sand on stage five and pierced the contingent of Minis following Peterhansel – finishing some 20 minutes behind the leading Hummer. Further down the field were the South African pairing teammates Duncan Vos and Rob Howie, 55 minutes off the pace.
After yesterday’s mid-race rest day, the raid continues today with a mammoth 722 km facing the competitors – 477 of which will be timed – on the way from Copiapo to Antofagasta.
Standings overall
1.Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA/Mini) 15 hours 32 minutes 53 seconds
2. Krzysztof Holowczyc/Jean-Marc Fortin (POL/BEL/Mini) – 11 minutes 22 seconds
3. Robby Gordon/Johnny Campbell (USA/Hummer) 13 minutes 09 seconds
4. Nani Roma/Michel Périn (ESP/FRA/Mini) 15 minutes 05 seconds
5. Giniel de Villiers/Dirk Von Zitzewitz (RSA/GER/Toyota) 34 minutes 07 seconds
6. Nasser al-Attiyah/Lucas Cruz (QAT/ESP/Hummer) 45 minutes 54 seconds
7. Leonid Novitzkiy/Andreas Schulz (RUS/GER/Mini) 54 minutes 26 seconds
8. Carlos Sousa/Jean-Pierre Garcin (POR/FRA/Great Wall) 1 hour 12 minutes 50 seconds
9. Lucio Alvarez/Ronnie Graue (ARG/Toyota) 1 hour 41 minutes 38 seconds
10. Erik Van Loon/Harmen Scholtalbers (NED/Mitsubishi) 1 hour 48 minutes 39 seconds
11. Duncan Vos/Robert Howie (RSA/Toyota) 2 hours 07 minutes 00 seconds
20. Mark Corbett/Francois Jordaan (RSA/CR4) 5 hours 22 minutes 26 seconds
