CARS News from stage 11 - updates 16.01.2013: DAKAR 2013 Stage 11 Wednesday January 16th, 2013 1st start (GMT-3) : 9:15 AM 2013 - Argentina/Chile -

DAKAR 2013  Stage 11  Wednesday January 16th, 2013
1st start (GMT-3) : 9:15 AM
2013 - Argentina/Chile -





12:09 - car
Leaders stopped in the car special

Even though they have passed CP1, the point at which the car/truck special has been called to a halt, the leaders of the car special have been stopped by the race organisers on the last section of the route, namely, Robby Gordon, Stéphane Peterhansel, Nani Roma and Giniel de Villiers.



11:12 - car
316 - Chabot leads Gordon

The buggies and similar vehicles are at ease over the first kilometres of the special. With his SMG buggy, Ronan Chabot has taken the lead from Robby Gordon and leads the American by more than a minute.


Bernard Errandonea has made an appearance in sixth place, 2'19" behind his team-mate. A noteworthy arrival in the provisional top ten is Eric Vigouroux in eighth place, 2'44" behind the stage leader.

10:53 - car
Gordon in command after 51 km

American Robby Gordon is in first place after the first quarter of the special, 59" ahead of Lucio Alvarez. 1'46" behind the leader, Giniel de Villiers is in third, with Stéphane Peterhansel fourth, 3'24” behind Gordon.


Nani Roma is fifth and Orlando Terranova is sixth, respectively 3'39" and 4'44" behind the stage leader.



10:04 - car
313 - Start of the special for the cars

Orlando Terranova took starter's orders at 11.53 AM local time for this 190-km long special in which the cars and trucks will be taking a slightly different route to the bikes and quads.


06:45 - car
After 30th place in the car general standings…

Yves Tartarin has been combining his enthusiasm for the Dakar since 1988 with, by and large, a smile but always unswerving loyalty. He is 32nd this morning with his BMW X6. This enthusiasm is also shown by William Alcaraz who has already raced the rally in almost every way possible.


This year, he is going solo, because he is having to fight a lone battle on board his Polaris buggy. Nonetheless, he is leading the T3 category, ahead of Nicolas Duclos and Sébastien Delaunay, also in a Polaris, as well as Chilean Francisco Lopez Balart in a Can-Am Commander 1000 X… A category for small cars but big on courage…



06:39 - car
Behind the leaders in the car general standings (cont.)

Behind the wheel of his Chevrolet Pick-up, Eric Vigouroux is 25th and running well on his return to the Dakar. He leads the Opel Mokka driven by Hungarian Balazs Szalay, who is by no means unknown after his second place on the Silk Way Rally, behind Boris Gadasin.


A little further back in thirtieth place, watchful eyes will be on the Mitsubishi of Vadym Nesterchuk in the stages requiring navigation, for a good reason: his co-pilot is the former navigator of Ayrat Mardeev, current third placed driver in the truck category.




06:34 - car
Behind the leaders in the car general standings

A small group of buggies are holding out against the 4x4s from seventh to tenth place, led by Guerlain Chicherit ahead of Bernard Errandonea and Ronan Chabot for SMG as well as Pascal Thomasse for MD Rallye. Perhaps the surprises in the dunes will come from this group.


We spoke yesterday about Alvarez, Vassiliev and Gadasin. These three men again put in a good performance yesterday and are still among the first 15. However, after today's route, they may not be so high in the general standings.




06:30 - car
The cars are on their way

Orlando Terranova has set off from the bivouac towards the small town of Fiambala where the start of the special will take place for the 96 cars authorised to start this morning, with the first getting down to business at 11.53 AM local time.



17:02
La Rioja-Fiambala: the return of the dunes

With a new sandy episode, the Dakar 2013 enters a third phase in which each competitor will need to adapt their driving or riding technique and overall approach to the terrain: the less attentive will leave themselves open to very costly navigation errors.


On a route that is slightly different for the cars/trucks and bikes/quads, the stage will include 256 km of link stage, followed by 220 km of special stage that will finish near the bivouac (with a small 6-km link stage). Sometimes, nothing happens around Fiambala… but it's very rare! On average, these dunes with their attractive contours often hold nasty surprises in store.


Anything is possible, including in the new dunes added to the programme. Whilst in most of the categories the positions are becoming increasingly more established, even if the gaps are small in some cases, there should be a certain amount of new developments by the end of the day.




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