after the longest day of the Paris Dakar, the "survivors" have
made it into parc farme. there were many crashes, esp ppl flipping
over.
newsflashes here:
18:35 Bikes Frétigné wins special
With 9 bikers on the finish line of stage 7 between Zouerat and
Tichit, David Frétigné (YAM) has clocked the fastest time of the
day in 9h16'26". The Frenchman beats Marc Coma (KTM) by 3'31. Third
is Despres at 5'22 while Gauloises team mate Alfie Cox is at 7'25"
and Andy Caldecott at 7'35. Marc Coma takes the overall leadership
with a 16" advance on Despres.
17:54 Trucks Kabirov leads at CP2
At the second check point of the truck special (km 397), Firdaus
Kabirov (KAM) had the best time so far. Second is Gerard De Rooy
(DAF) at 16'13", ahead of De Azevedo (TAT) at 24'42".
16:55 Trucks De Rooy back in the special
After suffering mechanical problems on the front of the DAF truck,
due to a dune jump, Jan De Rooy was finally able to carry on the
special after repairing.
16:54 Cars Saby way behind at CP2
Volkswagen driver Bruno Saby eventually made it to check point 2 of
the special (km 397) with 39'29" time deficit on the special leader
Peterhansel. In The new virtual overall, Peter takes command with a
32' advantage on Saby.
16:40 Trucks Tchaguine in trouble
At km 300 of the truck special, overall leader Vladimir Tchaguine
(KAM n°515) was stopped with serious mechanical worries.
16:07 Cars Peter flying to special victory
At the second check point of the car special (km 397), Stephane
Peterhansel (MIT n°306) has the fastest time so far and is heading
to a probable stage win. Second is Jutta Kleinschmidt (VW) is 8'17"
adrift while Nasser Al Attiyah (BMW) is at 11'36". Fourth is
Alphand (MIT) over 20' behind and Masuoka at over 27'.
15:47 Cars- Schlesser still stopped
Suffering mechanical problems on the rear left wheel of his buggy,
Jean-Louis Schlesser has decided to await his assistance car for
possible repairs rather than heading to a tricky dune
portion.
15:28 Bikes leading 5 at km 500
The first five bikers to have started the special are still riding
together (Despres, Cox, Meoni, Coma, Ullevalseter) with Despres and
Meoni leading the group most of the time. Behind is a group
including virtual special leader Walch.
14:40 Cars Schlesser on the phone
At km 243, Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser (SCH) was seen stopped,
et the Gallaouyia Fort. The two-time Dakar winer was outside of his
buggy
. On the phone!
14:23 Cars Peter fastest at CP1
At the first check point of the car special, Stephane Peterhansel
(MIT n°306) has the best time. Second is Jutta Kleinschmidt (VW
n°310) at only 37".The others are far behind with Al Attiyah (BMW),
third, at 4'19" followed by Saby (VW)at 10'24", Alphand (MIT) at
14'52" and Masuoka (MIT) at 19'24".
14:14 Bikes Walch still ahead
USA's Kellon Walch (KTM n°21) is still the fastest biker of the
special so far. At CP2 (km 397), the KTM rider had 3'12" lead on
Sala (KTM n°14) and 5'30" on Coma (KTM n°6). Fourth was
Frétigné (YAM n°12) at 6'52", followed by Despres (KTM n°2) at
7'19".
13:58 Cars Schlesser stopped
Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser (SCH n°300) stopped his two-wheel
drive buggy at km 185. Both the driver and co-driver went to check
the rear left wheel without however repairing anything. They lost
around 4 minutes.
13:57 Cars race incidents
Before the first CP of the day (km 256) quite a few incidents
occurred in the car special :
-Alphand (MIT n°312) was stuck in the sand for a few
minutes.
-Masuoka (MIT n°309) damaged the front of his Pajero Evo, under
his front left light.
-Saby (VW n°307) also damaged the front of his Race
Touareg.
13:36 Cars Shinozuka crashes
At km 120 of the day's special, Japan's Kenjiro Shinozuka (NIS
n°319) crashed his Nissan Dessoude car. The vehicle flipped. Both
the driver and co-driver are OK.
13:36 Bikes Walch fastest at CP1
At check point 1 (km256), USA's Kellon Walch (KTM n°21) had the
best time of the bike race. The US rider has a 51" lead on Coma
(KTM n°6) and 2'46" on Despres (KTM n°2).
12:51 NIGHT WATCH
Mechanical worries, late arrivals, injuries, bad luck and
withdrawals
All you need to know about what happened on the
bivouac during the night.
22h50 Vatanen at last
The press had almost forgot about good old Ari when the Finn
finally made it to the bivouac late in the evening. After breaking
his transmission box at kilometre 150 of the special, Vatanen spent
a good part of his day waiting first of all for his assistance
vehicle and then for the reparations on his Nissan Pickup. When
finally arriving in Zouerat, the multiple Dakar winner remained
calm and composed. We lost seven hours but everything is OK. The
moral is still all right, there are far worst things in life. Maybe
we didnt do enough testing on the car. Anyhow now Ill do my best
to make arrive in Dakar and thats the most important...
23h00 Happy birthday Tchaguine
Thankfully, Vladimir Tchaguine doesnt celebrate in the same
fashion every time he wins a stage on the Dakar. But the day was
special. Not only had the Russian claimed his 32nd ever Dakar
special but it was also his
birthday. A perfect opportunity to
drink champagne and eat caviar in the Kamaz family. A party without
the two members of the team that suffered a serious crash last
night and were taken to the Layoune hospital for further
examination and care. Anyhow, the celebration remained quiet with
the difficult upcoming stage to prepare and the long days to come.
One can expect a big fiesta if Tchaguine claims a fifth win in
Dakar.
23h30 Gordons long day
Robby Gordon knew what he was coming for on the Dakar. Was he
really expecting such a bad day? After his crash (and flip) just
before CP2 (km 300), the American eventually made it to the finish
of the stage pushed by an assistance truck. Not really the most
triumphant of ways to enter the bivouac. The Volkswagen crew
remained stranded in the desert awaiting for assistance and
eventually saw help come at 17h00 to try and repair the seriously
damaged rear part (breaks
) before being pulled through CP2 and
most of the special. Once on the bivouac the whole VW team started
deconstructing the Race Touareg and change the necessary parts so
that Gordon could carry on his Dakar adventure. Its a real shame
because I think I could have done something good here on this
rally. But Im here to learn.
0h30 Work for DAF
After a very very long night indeed, spent working on Gerard De
Rooys truck (damaged after a crash during stage 5), it was this
time father Jan De Rooys vehicle that needed a special
treatment. Indeed the elder of the De Rooy family suffered turbo
problems on the special.
0h50 Sad atmosphere at Nissan
With the retirement of Colin McRae and the difficult day of Ari
Vatanen, the Nissan clan was feeling rather devastated after the
days stage 6. Giniel De Villiers only needed a change of wind
screen while the mechanics were still working on Vatanens
car.
1h10 -
busy at Mitsubishi
No serious worry hit the Mitsubishi team. The title holders went
through an excellent day with the performances of Stephane
Peterhansel and Hiroshi Masuoka. But to keep up their Dakar rhythm,
the mechanics checked and re-checked all the vehicles, especially
for the upcoming marathon stage. Tomorrow, we wont be allowed to
give a helping hand so we need the cars to be very reliable and
work perfectly well for two days, explained one of the Mitsu
mechanics...
3h00 Time for a count
190 bikes made it to the bivouac of Zouerat, as well as 143 cars
and 60 trucks.
