31ST DAKAR RALLY (January 3rd-January 18th, 2009)
Leg 12: Fiambalá – La Rioja
Liaison, 4 km; special, 220 km; liaison, 261 km; total, 485 km.
Weather conditions: warm, humid and cloudy in La Rioja after heavy, thundery showers in the morning, 35 degrees Centigrade.
For immediate release
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
MITSUBISHI’S ROMA LOSES FOURTH PLACE
ON PERILOUS SPECIAL STAGE INTO LA RIOJA
- Mitsubishi’s ‘Racing Lancer’ stops with electrical problems
- Special stage stopped at 175km point because of delays in dunes
LA RIOJA (Argentina): Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both Spain) lost fourth place in the 2009 Dakar Rally, after stopping with electrical problems 165km into the 220km special stage between Fiambalá and La Rioja on Thursday.
Mitsubishi’s sole-surviving turbo-diesel ‘Racing Lancer’ crew had held fourth overall at the start of the stage and come under increasing pressure from Robbie Gordon (USA) for the final podium place once overall leader Carlos Sainz (Spain) had retired after an accident. Roma, himself, had survived a scare at the same corner where Sainz crashed, but stopped 86km further on with his own technical problems.
A total of 132 bikes and quads, 89 cars and 56 trucks were permitted to start the 12th stage into La Rioja, where a fierce thunderstorm and incessant early morning rain had relieved some of the oppressive heat of the previous afternoon.
The original stage was reduced by around 33km at the overnight briefing in Fiambalá, when event officials discovered that the original route was scheduled to cross an archaeological site. It still featured some treacherous dune crossings and tricky navigation, but was eventually stopped at the 175km point on the grounds that too many crews were experiencing delays in the sand dunes between 140km and 170km.
Roma duly continued to the La Rioja bivouac and the team were awaiting news of any time penalties that may have been imposed on crews who did not complete the stage.
Tomorrow (Friday) is the penultimate day of competitive action in this year’s Dakar Rally and should have featured a 545km special stage in a total route of 753km between La Rioja and Córdoba, Argentina’s second city.
Event officials likened sections of this stage to the type of terrain more at home on the FIA World Rally Championship. However, recent heavy rain in the La Rioja and Córdoba areas forced the ASO to cut the section that began south of Patquia and headed east towards El Chaco.
The stage will now start at PC4 (364km) and teams will tackle a shortened 220km special stage that heads north through classic WRC Rally of Argentina territory to Villa de Seco and finishes just short of Villa Carlos Paz, the base for the WRC event, to the west of Córdoba. The city is situated in the foothills of the Sierra Chicas, 390 metres above sea level, on the Suquía River and is one of the oldest former Spanish colonial capitals.
Overall positions on leg 12 (unofficial @ 15.15hrs):
1. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 4h 06m 43s
2. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 4h 23m 00s
3. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer (Open 1) 4h 32m 10s
4. Dieter Depping (D)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 4h 48m 45s
5. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Oleg Tyupenkin (RUS) BMW X3 CC (T1.2) 5h 02m 08s
6. Ivar Erik Tollefsen (N)/Quin Evans (GB) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 5h 21m 59s
Overall positions after leg 12 (leg 11 cancelled):*
1. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk von Zitzevitz (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 43h 46m 58s
2. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 43h 49m 33s
3. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer (Open 1) 45h 05m 50s
4. Ivar Erik Tollefsen (N)/Quin Evans (GB) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 49h 35m 19s
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Navara (T1.2) 46h 30m 40s
6. Dieter Depping (D)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg (T1.2) 52h 20m 21s
7. Miroslav Zapletal (CZ)/Tomas Ourednicek (CZ) Mitsubishi L200 (T1.2) 54h 36m 34s
*TBA. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz Senra (E) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer (T1.2) TBA
* pending time penalties for Joan Roma/Lucas Cruz (Mitsubishi Racing Lancer)
Live footage of the 2009 Dakar Rally can be seen on Eurosport at the following times:
Eurosport
18.05 hrs GMT – 18.30 hrs GMT
22.00 hrs GMT – 22.45 hrs GMT
Ends
Please visit:
http://www.ralliart.co.jp/motorsports/e/09dakar/index.html
and for further information, please contact:
LEDDERHOF Margaret: m.ledderhof@mitsubishi-motor-sports.com
TESHIMA Masatoshi: m.teshima@mitsubishi-motor-sports.com
Ends