Dakar 2015 Stage 10 - 359kms Calama - Salta With the finish in Buenos Aires looming on the horizon, Nasser Al-Attiyah produced another virtuoso performance on the road to Salta today to clinch his fourth stage and expand his already wide lead in the general classification. Knowing that hes running out of Stages to make his mark, Team Toyos Robby Gordon raced hard today, holding a top 10 position through most of the race before inexplicably losing time in the last 100kms to finished 21st, +18m32s behind Al-Attiyah. Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit and his Zebra Buggy was the surprise of yesterday, putting in a brilliantly clean run to claim a third place in the Scratch. Out-Gordoning his teammate, starting the day in the 70th position, more than three hours after the initial racers had taken off for the day, Guerlain tore through the field passing car after car. Guerlain said after the race: “Now we know the potential of the Zebra Buggy, we need to improve the reliability of it. We will work hard this year on the zebra, so it’s ready for Dakar Rally 2016”. It also became clear that he very nearly didnt even make the start of yesterdays stage because of electrical problems on the liaison route. Had it not been for the generosity of a local, who helped them re-solder some connections on the engine there wouldnt have been a Stage 9 race story to tell. Today, no such luck. Over six hours in the field, Guerlains car limped home in 67th position, with another one hour penalty thrown at him to add insult to injury. Thing is, none of it seems to dent the guys enthusiasm. Hes standing in the bivouac now, with a smile on his face, ready to race full tilt tomorrow. Yesterday Toyo driver Philippe Raud had a torrid time, out on course for nearly seven hours, today was better - 62nd place, 1 hour 46 minutes behind the stage winner. Hes still fighting and still looking good for the finish in Buenos Aires in 3 days’ time. Tomorrow the rally takes a route along the famous Ruta 40. Accumulated fatigue over 11 days of racing is sure to take its toll on a difficult course and with the end in sight, losing focus now could be catastrophic. General Ranking 1 #301 Al-Attiyah (QAT) Mini 35:19:37 2 #303 De Villiers (ZAF) Toyota +00:28:22 3 #325 Alrajhi (ARG) Mini +00:43:08 20 #308 Gordon (USA) Hummer +07:41:25 49 #323 Chicherit (FRA) Buggy +30:34:06 61 #400 Raud (FRA) Toyota +49:08:51
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 01:11:41 +0000
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