Carlos Sousa, with his Nissan Navara, is continuing to move up the field. Setting the 8th fastest time on the special stage between Atar and Nouakchott, he has gained another two places in the overall classification, and is now in the top ten, lying in 9th position. Team Galp Energia is still competitive.
This leg, between Atar and Nouakchott, might not have been the longest, but was one of the most tiring. The competitors have now passed the mid-race point, and the 4948 kilometres already covered are beginning to show. Leaving Atar, the competitors still in the race (there were 125 this morning) faced a winding route crossing canyons and wadis, followed by an erg to cross, finishing with a fast section at the end of the special stage…
Carlos Sousa reached Nouakchott at the end of the afternoon :" Our special stage did not go too badly, with a few short stops which saw us lose around an hour. First of all, there was a puncture at the 60 km point. Then we stopped to let the tyres down before crossing the dunes, and again to re-inflate them. We also had to turn round two or three times to find the right route. A few of the waypoints are really difficult to find, and there were bikes everywhere. At the end of the special stage, the gearbox started to become noisy, and as a precaution I slowed down, just for safety's sake. I am pleased as the team has worked hard to make the car well-balanced and efficient. The final week could be even more favourable for us. We went well through the big dunes and the camel grass, and there are no reasons for that to change. Anyway, we will do everything we can to stay in the top ten. I don't feel tired, and the rest day in Nouakchott will mainly be good for the car… "
More bad news today, as Benoît Rousselot lost the lead of the Production category to Jean Jacques Ratet. Benoît now has a delay of 20 minutes. Nothing too serious, but today was a real nightmare for him, with non-stop problems.
The Miitsuhashi / Dubois team was extremely unlucky today, and has had to retire from this edition of the Dakar. Jacky Dubois explained the day's events.
"We had lost the brakes for about 30 kilometres. I blocked the brake tube with a bit of wood, but it wasn't very efficient.
In order to brake, you had to pump between ten and fifteen times. At the 90-kilometre point, the road book announced a bowl, which was classified as a level-2 danger (the maximum level is 3). But the note was slightly out of place. Jun started to brake, but as he didn't see the danger coming, he accelerated, and 100 metres later, the bowl was there. Too late. We rolled. It was one of the Nissan Paladin cars which helped us to get back on our wheels. I started without problems, and we finished the special as good as possible, even if we did the last 55 kilometres in the dark. We drove behind a quad at 50/60 km/h who was lighting the way for us, and who helped us get to the end. Unfortunately, the rollbar is bent on my side. It would be impossible to continue for safety reasons. We have to retire."
Team Zhengzhou - Nissan Paladin / Xu Lang/Fabian Lurquin :" Navigation was crazy today. We didn't have too many problems over the dunes at the start, but after around 250 km, there were trails everywhere and tracks heading in every direction.
To follow the GPS points, we did at least 55 km more than in the road-book. We also had our first puncture. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, we lost the wheel, as the wheel nuts had not been properly fixed on. The bolts were damaged, and we finished the stage by retightening the wheelnuts every ten minutes. "
Yesterday evening, we did not know what had happened to Marc Blazquez…Marc is still in the race, but he explained his problems of the day before. " We started off well, without the slightest problem. At the 170 km point, we stopped, and when we wanted to continue, it was impossible to get the car started. Due to the heat and the sand, the starter had got blocked. We waited for a while, and as it cooled, we were able to get going again.
The same thing happened at the 299 km point, but as we were beached in the sand, there was no way that we could sort things out quickly. When we were finally able to get going again, the clutch was out. Therefore, it was better to miss CP2 and to take a time penalty. If we had continued in the stage, I think we would have had to retire. We will use the rest day to work on the car and get the team back in condition… The aim is still to get to Dakar. Today, considering we left among the very last competitors, our 32nd place in the stage is quite satisfactory. We overtook a lot of cars and trucks. We got a bit lost at CP2. The vehicle went well, and we considered this stage as a transition day, to get ourselves back in the race. "
In the Tecnospor teamt, Kenjiro Shinozuka has been having the same problems for a number of days. His new generation Nissan Pathfinder's steering joint has broken every day. Today, the unfortunate Japanese driver had to stop after 4 kilometres of the stage, and wait for his T4 truck. A problem that the Team Manager, Daniele Canonico , is hoping to sort out, trying to understand why this piece is breaking systematically.
As for Andrej Ivanov, he has had electrical problems, which lost him quite a lot of time.
Tomorrow is a rest day for all. Just enough time to regain some strength before facing the second part of the rally, which will start up again on Monday with a leg which is announced as being dantesque.
