Benoît Rousselot has still not reached Tambacounda!

Today saw the transition between Guinea and Senegal, with a mountain stage…. Amazing but true : a maximum altitude of 1000m, with a few passes to get over. Just like the stage between Bamako and Labé, the routes followed were narrow. The ever-present dust did not make overtaking easy. Over this terrain, Carlos Sousa set the 8th fastest time, and kept his seventh place overall.

After yesterday's marathon stage between Bamako (Mali) and Labé (Guinea), the teams still in the race were extremely happy to see their assistance teams this evening, in Tambacounda, Sénégal. Two exhausting days, and the feeling that Dakar is now very close.

Carlos Sousa and Jean Marie Lurquin, despite yesterday's incident, managed to stay on the right path today and are still 7th overall.

" During yesterday's stage, between Bamako and Labé, we hit a large, hidden obstacle in a zone of fech-fech. The steering was badly hit, the wheel was bent, and therefore I had to drive carefully. I was a bit worried when we arrived in Labé, as there was no assistance. But when the T4 race service truck arrived, the mechanics on board fixed everything. Today, we started off in eleventh position, and we had to overtake a number of competitors in the dust, which was not easy. We were a bit blocked by a blue buggy [Schlesser, Ed.], which we finally overtook thanks to a rocky area. Then Vigouroux kindly let us through. Finally, we had to get past Miller, who had a puncture, which made things easier. From then on, we were out of the dust and it was a lot easier. Unfortunately, after CP1, the car's handling got a bit worse. We even thought we might have a puncture. Actually, it was the rear suspension which has overheated, and we slowed down slightly near to the end. Seventh overall this evening, is very good. Especially for a driver like me, who had not driven for a year !"

Different days, different stories for Benoît Rousselot. Yesterday, between Bamako and Labé, the Nancy-based driver had put in a very good stage despite a few problems with the shock absorbers.

Unfortunately, today, between Labé and Tambacounda in Senegal, seven kilometres from the finish, Benôit tore off a wheel….Along with his co-driver Sylvain Poncet, he is currently trying to repair it.

The T4 truck should soon arrive to help them finish their repairs. They will then face over 200 kilometres of liaison in order to reach the bivouac. We hope that Benoît will arrive in the next few hours, and will be able to take the start of the penultimate stage between Tambacounda and Dakar.

Xu Lang / Fabian Lurquin - Nissan Paladin : " Today, our mission was to get the car to the end. Just one small problem : we had lost the screws holding the front undertray in place, and in order not to damage it, we drove very slowly. Which turned out to be the best solution over this very rough stage. Ten kilometers from the end, we tried to tow Benoît Rousselot, who had lost a front wheel, but it was impossible. It was on an uphill section, and our vehicle was overheating terribly."

Jose Luis Leon, the manager of Tot Curses, who prepare Marc Blazquez's car, explained what happened to the Spanish driver : " Marc had an oil leak in the rear brakes. He took off too quickly over a bump, and the landing was very violent. Ignacio was in a lot of pain. They repaired the brakes and set off again, but Ignacio was suffering more and more, so they called the race direction via the Iritrack, which sent a helicopter to evacuate Ignacio. The assistance went to fetch Marc and his car yesterday, and the whole team spent the night in Bamako before reaching Tambacounda today. "

Daniele Canonico, the Tecnosport Team Manager gave an update : " Unfortunately, only one of our cars is still in the race, that driven by Russian driver Leonid Novitzky, with the new Pathfinder. During the Kayes-Bamako stage, the other Russian driver, Ivanov, who was a bit 'hot', totally destroyed his vehicle in a collision with another competitor. And yesterday, during the liaison section heading for Labé, we lost our Chinese team, who hit an animal. It's a great shame, as they were having a good race."


Tomorrow will see the penultimate stage of this 28th Dakar. On the Senegalese tracks, the co-drivers will be back in business. The special stage will be longer than last year's, and plenty of changes of direction will not make things easier. Plenty of time to be lost… or gained.