Dakar and Rally-Raid discussion...

[Gerard C]

What to do when camping right in the middle of nowhere with fellas named Loeb or Sainz? A giant BBQ, aka méchoui! https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/au...e-f4c642b1c23a
Even in the dunes, life isn't a beach…

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

@NaBUru: from your previous classification and following the 48 heures chrono results, is seems that now the trucks category leader is Martin Macik*/ Iveco Powerstar (nicknamed Cenda). Is it correct? If yes all the contestants are far behind.* Martin Macik driver, Frantisek "Franck" Tomasek navigateur, David Svanda mechanic (all CZ).

Yes.

Leader Van Kasteren lost 3 hours on Macik, so the latter is the new leader.

[Adam43]

It’s great January viewing. Dramatic coverage. Variety of classes and machinery.

I remember following this everyday on CeeFax and still religiously check the results online.

Also like seeing Loeb, Sainz, Ekstrom names together. Mixing it with the specialists. Although arguably they are that anyway.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Yes.Leader Van Kasteren lost 3 hours on Macik, so the latter is the new leader.

[Gerard C]

Now question to Loeb's team: can his engine and front dif' stand such a treatment? Till the cheq flag (10 meters beyond would be appreciated).

[NaBUru38]

Classification after stage 6:

Bikes

1. USA Ricky Brabec (Honda), 27:11'21
2. BWA Ross Branch (Hero), + 0'51
3. FRA Adrien van Beveren (Honda), + 9'
4. CHI José Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) + 14'
5. AUS Toby Price (KTM), + 27'
6. ARG Kevin Benavides (KTM), + 28'
7. AUS Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas), + 35'
8. ARG Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna), + 47'
9. SVK Stefan Svitko (KTM), + 1:07'
10. FRA Jeanloup Lepan (KTM), + 1:31'
11. CZE Martin Michek (KTM), + 1:34'
12. FRA Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna), + 1:47'

T1 Ultimate Cars

1. ESP Carlos Sainz (Audi), 24:59'32
2. SWE Mattias Ekström (Audi), + 20'
3. FRA Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive), + 29'
4. BRA Lucas Moraes (Toyota), + 1:04'
5. BEL Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota), + 1:09'
6. RSA Giniel de Villiers (Toyota), + 1:25'
7. CZE Martin Prokop (Ford), + 1:35'
8. RSA Guy David Botterill (Toyota), + 1:49'
9. FRA Mathieu Serradori (Century), + 1:52'
10. FRA Guerlain Chicherit (Toyota), + 1:58'
11. LTU Benediktas Vanagas (Toyota), + 2:05'
12. ESP Nani Roma (Ford), + 2:07'

T3 Challengers:

1. POL Eryk Goczal (Taurus), 26:52'02
2. USA Mitchell Guthrie (Taurus), + 1:02'
3. ESP Cristina Gutiérrez (Taurus), + 1:26'
4. CHI Francisco López (Can-Am), + 1:26'
5. USA Austin Jones (Can-Am), + 1:50'
6. POL Michal Goczal (Taurus), + 2:04'

T4 SSV

1. SAU Ysair Seaidan (Can-Am), 29:55'26
2. USA Sara Price (Can-Am), + 3'
3. FRA Xavier de Soultrait (Polaris), + 5'
4. POR Joao Ferreira (Can-Am), + 17'
5. SUI Jerome de Sadeleer (Polaris), + 20'
6. ECU Sebastián Guayasamin (Can-Am), + 1:27'

T5 Trucks

1. CZE Marti Macik (Iveco), 20:01'22
2. CZE Ales Loprais (Praga), + 26'
3. NED Mitchel van der Brink (Iveco), + 1:06'
4. NED Janus van Kasteren (Iveco), + 2:38'
5. NED Vick Versteejnen (Iveco), + 6:17'
6. NED Michiel Becx (Iveco), + 6:21'

Quads:

1. ARG Manuel Andujar (Yamaha), 33:02'24
2. FRA Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha), + 20'
3. BRA Marcelo Medeiros (Yamaha), + 1:25'
4. SVK Juraj Varga (Yamaha), + 2:52'
5. LTU Laisvydas Kancius (Yamaha), + 4:16'
6. LTU Anastas Kanopkinas (CFMoto), + 24:22'

[Gerard C]

Thank you NaBUru! Great job.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Now question to Loeb's team: can his engine and front dif' stand such a treatment? Till the cheq flag (10 meters beyond would be appreciated).

Al Attiyah will have a spare diff in the back of his now parts truck, roadside assist van or whatever his function is now.

[Adam43]

All super close. And brilliant even just to get to the end.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by E.B

Al Attiyah will have a spare diff in the back of his now parts truck, roadside assist van or whatever his function is now.

And a tchopper too. Did you see how quickly a local responsible landed after Al-Rajhi rolled his car? I don't think him and his co-driver had to hitch hike to promptly be back home. Communication in this part of the world has always been very good. Wasn't telephone invented in this area?

[Gerard C]

Chris, I know your french is almost perfect. Did you hear Peter' explanations to a female interviewer about technical issues him and Mathieu Baumel knew? Easy to understand about the hydraulic failure: massive leak, no more power steering and a totally wrecked hydro jack. But later in the itw, he explained that they had a "red code warning". In this case, the team must touch nothing and has to promptly jump out from the buggy, touching nothing to avoid being an "earth" contact! Not really reassuring…

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Chris, I know your french is almost perfect. Did you hear Peter' explanations to a female interviewer about technical issues him and Mathieu Baumel knew? Easy to understand about the hydraulic failure: massive leak, no more power steering and a totally wrecked hydro jack. But later in the itw, he explained that they had a "red code warning". In this case, the team must touch nothing and has to promptly jump out from the buggy, touching nothing to avoid being an "earth" contact! Not really reassuring…

Hehehe I knew of the problem..... I found this interview in English which must be the same issues

https://www.dakar.com/en/news//stage...r-stage/187787

Dakar media dept is very good covering the various languages. The daily 10 minute highlights in all languages on youtube are also helpful for pictures.

We dont get any live coverage here other than the running updates on the Dakar website which once you master the website navigation the info is excellent..... However we do get an hour of TV highlights of all categories in English at 5:00pm daily our time. The good thing is I can access the same coverage on demand at breakfast time here on the same channel with just an email registration, no fees, so our coverage is good. With our time difference here it works well.

[Gerard C]

Good to have it at breakfast time. Your one hour daily coverage must be based on the one we have here, supplied by ASO, but we have a lot of ads which gives 1,5 hour in total.
I wonder when ejection seats will be mandatory to escape safely from those EV's… I guess you remember when the Toyota was stopped at Spa. At the end of the day, is it serious to try and promote EV's in this region of the world?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

At the end of the day, is it serious to try and promote EV's in this region of the world?

Just need a (very) long charger lead. Or solar panels.

[Gerard C]

Or a pipe-line containing wirings? As to Peter hydro jack issues, the Coronel bros helped him. But as to the red warning? Did he has to communicate with his team to be told the procedure? How and by who was it fixed?



Second at the start of today's stage, Ekström just lost more than two hours, due to a mechanical failure affecting the rear left wheel.

[Gerard C]

Keep cool, Carlos, keep cool…

[Gerard C]

Thanks to the scrutineering team, two Challenger category cars are now Dsq'ed, Eryk Goczal-Oriol Mena and Michal Goczal-Szymon Gospodarczy. It seems that the clutch discs material used, carbon fiber, has been found non compliant with the rules ( titanium, magnésium, céramique et composite (carbone) are forbidden). Dura lex, sed lex.

New leaders of this category are Mitch Guthrie and Cristina Guttiérrez.

[Gerard C]

Only 19' between Sainz and Loeb tonight 14 January and five remaining stages representing 1901 km. Who's your favourite? Virtual podium apart (Moraes beeing third), it's gonna be tight between G de Mevius, G de Villiers, M Prokop, M Serradoria and G Chicherit.

[Gerard C]

Nice race report here: https://www.herald.co.zw/thixton-wav...t-dakar-rally/

[Gerard C]

Bad day for Loeb: lost just after the start, then one way point hard to find, puncture and some troubles crossing the vegetation.
@ E.B: if you can spot today's Nasser itw, you'll be watching a great moment. Not "too" happy with his car to say the least and asking for a meeting with Prodrive responsibles right away. Now!! May be he's worried about his three year coming contract with them and Dacia? In the meanwhile, as a frequent first class flyer and client of the best hotels in the world, he went back to the bivouac using an helicopter and let his buggy to the valet service!

[Gerard C]

Stage 8 highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBgi27BwlDs
Loeb using the same buggy as Nasser, can his engine last for long?

[Gerard C]

Itw: “The engine stopped, there was a loud noise and something broke.” describes Al-Attiyah to L’Équipe. “Anyway, since the start of this rally we have had nothing but problems. I'm going to have a meeting with the team because we need to understand what happened. I'm an official driver, things happen that I need to understand. I want to understand because I am the double title holder but this year, every day I have a problem.”
Adding: “It’s sport. Sometimes it doesn't work as we would like, but I want to understand why this happens on one car and not on another. We have two cars, two top drivers (him and Sébastien Loeb, editor’s note), we know rally raid, we must help each other for the future.”

[Gerard C]

With three remaining stages, it seems that El Matador is en route for the win. Loeb is at 20'33 behind and Carlos has two team mates to give help when the Frenchie is alone (two punctures today) to challenge Sainz. Go Carlos!

[NaBUru38]

Mallet moto rider Carles Falcón died after being in induced coma.

[NaBUru38]

Classification after stage 9:

Bikes

1. USA Ricky Brabec (Honda), 40:53'49
2. BWA Ross Branch (Hero), + 7'
3. FRA Adrien van Beveren (Honda), + 11'
4. CHI José Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) + 13'
5. ARG Kevin Benavides (KTM), + 28'
6. AUS Toby Price (KTM), + 35'
7. ARG Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna), + 49'
8. AUS Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas), + 59'
9. SVK Stefan Svitko (KTM), + 1:23'
10. CZE Martin Michek (KTM), + 2:20'
11. FRA Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna), + 2:24'
12. FRA Jeanloup Lepan (KTM), + 2:35'

T1 Ultimate Cars

1. ESP Carlos Sainz (Audi), 37:50'57
2. FRA Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive), + 20'
3. BRA Lucas Moraes (Toyota), + 1:12'
4. BEL Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota), + 1:39'
5. FRA Mathieu Serradori (Century), + 2:03'
6. FRA Guerlain Chicherit (Toyota), + 2:12'
7. CZE Martin Prokop (Ford), + 2:12'
8. RSA Giniel de Villiers (Toyota), + 2:15'
9. RSA Guy David Botterill (Toyota), + 2:29'
10. LTU Benediktas Vanagas (Toyota), + 2:29'
11. KGZ Denis Krotov (Toyota), + 3:21'
12. BRA Cristian Baumgart (Prodrive), +3:47'

T3 Challengers

1. USA Mitchell Guthrie (Taurus), 42:09'25
2. ESP Cristina Gutiérrez (Taurus), + 28'
3. CHI Francisco López (Can-Am), + 36'
4. LTU Rokas Baciuska (Can-Am), + 1:22'
5. USA Austin Jones (Can-Am), + 1:27'

T4 SSV

1. FRA Xavier de Soultrait (Polaris), 44:53'33
2. USA Sara Price (Can-Am), + 28'
3. SUI Jerome de Sadeleer (Polaris), + 31'
4. SAU Yasir Seaidan (Can-Am), 37'
5. POR Joao Ferreira (Can-Am), + 1:18'
6. ECU Sebastián Guayasamin (Can-Am), + 2:27'

T5 Trucks

1. CZE Martin Macik (Iveco), 43:26'01
2. CZE Ales Loprais (Praga), + 1:54'
3. NED Mitchel van der Brink (Iveco), + 2:12'
4. NED Janus van Kasteren (Iveco), + 4:36'
5. NED Vick Versteejnen (Iveco), + 7:25'
6. NED Michiel Becx (Iveco), + 10:49'

Quads:

1. ARG Manuel Andujar (Yamaha), 51:07'27
2. FRA Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha), + 6'
3. SVK Juraj Varga (Yamaha), + 3:08'
4. LTU Laisvydas Kancius (Yamaha), + 5:24'
5. LTU Anastas Kanopkinas (CFMoto), + 27:05'