CARS News from stage 13 unfolded 18.01.2013: DAKAR 2013 - Argentina/Chile - January 13th, 2013 1st start (GMT-3) : 9:30 AM

DAKAR 2013   - Argentina/Chile - January 13th, 2013
1st start (GMT-3) : 9:30 AM

16:17 - car
302 - Peterhansel saves his strength in the general

With a lead that is still 44'38" over Giniel de Villiers, Stéphane Peterhansel controlled his race today, not doing anything too flashy, to ensure victory tomorrow in Santiago. For third place, there has been a swap in positions between Léonid Novitskiy and Nani Roma.


The Spaniard waited for his team leader on the special and exits the virtual podium as a result. Orlando Terranova makes it a fourth X-Raid vehicle in the top 5 for a potentially triumphant finish in Santiago, ahead of the Great Wall driven by Carlos Sousa in sixth place.



16:03 - car
500 - Gordon wins!

Robby Gordon has been confirmed as state winner, 22" ahead of Guerlain Chicherit. The two men dominated the stage, because their nearest pursuer is 4'41" behind, namely the BMW X3 driven by Orlando Terranova, with the Toyota of Giniel de Villiers 8'08" behind the American.


Leonid Novivtskiy is fifth, 8'35" behind Gordon, whilst Stéphane Peterhansel finished sixth, 13'51" behind the stage winner.




15:35 - car
309 - Could Chicherit beat Gordon?

The Frenchman is flat out on the attack this afternoon: he has just achieved the joint best time alongside the Hummer driven by Robby Gordon at CP5, locate at the 417 km point on the special, just 23 km from the finishing line.



15:32 - car
Gordon finishes in front of Terranova

Three cars have now finished the special. The provisional results put Robby Gordon in first place with alead of 4'41" over Orlando Terranova and 8'08" over Giniel de Villiers.

However, given the state of these gaps, the next finishers have a chance of changing these as yet unconfirmed results.



15:12 - car
500 - Gordon first to finish

The American's Hummer was the first car to cross the finishing line with a total time of 4:50'53". His pursuers have not yet finished.


15:10 - car
Gordon consolidates his lead

After 359 km, the American still leads, ahead of Guerlain Chicherit, Orlando Terranova, Leonid Novitskiy, Giniel de Villiers and Carlos Sousa. Stephane Peterhansel is 9th and has lost almost 6 minutes to the leader.

14:29 - car
The cars start section 2

Robby Gordon was the first to resume battle after a 61-km neutralised zone at 3.50 PM local time.

13:16 - car
500 - Gordon leads the dance at the end of section 1

American driver Robby Gordon has finished the first section of the special in the lead, in front of Orlando Terranova by 1'38" and Giniel de Villiers by 4'52".


Carlos Sousa is putting in a good performance with provisional fourth place, 5'35" off the lead, in front of a Stéphane Peterhansel who is comfortably protecting his general standings lead, 5'42" behind Gordon.


 The big loser on this first section has been Spaniard Nani Roma, who opened the road and has so far lost 15'11" to the provisional stage leader over the first 246 kilometres.




12:46 - car
500 - Solid lead for Gordon after 215 km

American Hummer driver Robby Gordon is out in front on the car special, leading the BMW X3 of Orlando Terranova by 2'34", Giniel de Villiers in third by 5'26" and Stéphane Peterhansel in fourth by 6'38".



11:50 - car
315 - Advantage to Gordon at CP2

American Robby Gordon now leads the car special, after 153 km, 1'26" ahead of Orlando Terranova. 2'45" behind Gordon, Giniel de Villiers occupies third place.


Stéphane Peterhansel is fourth, 5'24" off the lead, three seconds in front of Lucio Alvarez.



11:32 - car
305 - Roma drops back at CP1

Timed at few minutes behind Stéphane Peterhansel, but 3'57" behind stage leader Orlando Terranova, Nani Roma is now in ninth place.


Behind Peterhansel, Carlos Sousa trails Terranova by 1'12". Leonid Novitskiy is 1'40" off the lead and Lucio Alvarez is 2'30" behind the current stage leader, tied on the same time as Ronan Chabot.



11:14 - car
313 - Terranova first to lead at CP1

After 69 km, at the first check point, the Argentinean BMW X3 driver leads Robby Gordon's Hummer by 43", the Toyota Hilux driven by Giniel de Villiers by 59" and Stéphane Peterhansel's Mini by 1'03".

The general standings leader is followed for the moment by team-mate Nani Roma, who trails the current stage leader by 3'57".




10:25 - car
The car race leaders start the special

At 12.06 PM local time, the Mini driven by Nani Roma started the day's special, followed by Robby Gordon's Hummer and the Toyota of Giniel de Villiers.



07:30 - car
After thirtieth place in the car category…

Ignacio Casale is 56th in the car general standings or 2nd in the quad category... Both are actually true: Ignacio the quad rider is the nephew of Ignacio the driver and Francisco, another uncle, is driving a second Toyota Tundra, a vehicle which stands out due to running on gas and petrol.


Reaching Santiago tomorrow using an alternative fuel will be a major source of pride for the family.



07:23 - car
Behind the leaders in the car category (cont.)

Today will be a matter of seconds between the SMG buggy driven by Bernard Errandonea and the Proto Nissan Juke driven by Christian Lavieille. 37 seconds separate their 18th and 19th places, which is almost nothing after more than 7,000 km of racing. This is the smallest gap this morning in the car category.



07:20 - car
Behind the leaders in the car category

The unity displayed by the SMG buggies yesterday behind sixth place Carlos Sousa has fallen apart: Bernard Errandonea lost out the most (68th on the stage) in the dunes around Copiapo.


As a result, he tumbles to 18th place, far behind his team-mates Ronan Chabot (7th) and Guerlain Chicherit (now 8th after transmission problems yesterday).


Pascal Thomasse in his MD Rallye buggy therefore obtains a place in the top 10 (9th) ahead of Geoff Olholm and his Toyota Hilux.



07:13 - car
Roma on the road

Spaniard Nani Roma, who scored a fine victory on yesterday's stage in his Mini ahead of Robby Gordon's Hummer, was the first to leave the bivouac this morning at 10.01 AM local time, heading towards the start of the special. 93 cars have been authorised to start this morning.




16:57
Copiapo-La Serena: last of the dunes on the horizon

After a 90-km link stage, the 441-km of the special will not be a trivial matter. Plenty of surprises could still occur on the Dakar 2013. The start on the road section will be relatively late: the timetable takes account of the mercurial weather conditions in the area.


The "Camanchaca" hangs over the first part of the morning in general, so it will only be once this thick fog has dissipated that the first bikes will tackle the last dunes on the rally. The sandy part accounts for a third of the special's length. Thereafter, the rally will head south, on wide tracks which can sometimes hide rocks that can shatter dreams.


On the morning of this penultimate stage of the Dakar 2013, it can be considered that the situation is under control in the quad and car categories where Marcos Patronelli and Stéphane Peterhansel both boast comfortable leads. In the truck race, the three Kamaz leading the category could still witness attacks, even if overall victory seems to be within their grasp.


On two wheels, however, with five pilots within a bracket of one hour, everything is still mathematically possible, even though the impression is clearly advantageous to the official KTM riders.

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