|
t was on the 12th stage of last year’s Dakar that Sainz crashed out of the lead and opened the door to eventual winner Giniel de Villiers of South Africa. Yesterday he had to fight off Al-Attiyah, but increased his lead to 5min 20sec. The Qatari in turn increased his advantage over Miller and Pitchford to 2min 52sec. France’s Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret (BMW X3), finished fourth in yesterday's stage to remain in fourth overall, but a distant 2h 20min 42sec behind Sainz and 1h 52min 30sec behind Miller.
De Villiers and German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz finished ninth on the stage and remain seventh overall, 51m 29s behind sixth-placed Carlos Sousa of Portugal (Mitsubishi Lancer).
The finish of Thursday’s special stage was moved back to the 470-km mark because of the record number of spectators gathered at the finish line at 476 km. A fairly quick and technical first half was dominated by former world rally champion Sainz, before Al-Attiyah closed the gap on the sandy but still quick second half and limited the damage.
Pitchford commented: “We are happy to have finished third today and retained third overall. It was a rough, bumpy and hard stage. The pace was hectic. Our TDi Race Touareg is still strong and performing well.”
Remembering how his fortunes were decidedly better in last year’s race as he took over the lead of the rally following Sainz’s demise, De Villiers reflected ruefully on his 2010 race so far: “Things have not gone our way, but we are happy to still be in the race and just one position off the fifth place we have been aiming at since our problems on special stage three 10 long days ago.”
Stage 12 was the penultimate stage of this year’s 9 000km edition of the Dakar and the route includes a 368-km special between San Rafael and! Santa Rosa in Argentina. With a total distance of 1 432 km (liaison and special) of the rally still to go – the equivalent of more than three separate rounds of the South African national off road championship – this rally is far from over and there is still much at stake.
The fine grey sand of the Nihuil dunes awaits inside the first 40 km of the special, leading into faster paths to the finish that will test the top speeds of the cars. |
