X-RAID TEAM NEWS
32nd Dakar Rally (January 1st-17th, 2010)
Stage 9: Copiapó-La Serena: liaison, 0km; special, *338km; liaison, 209km, total, 547km. (*reduced to 170km because of fog risk)
For immediate release
Monday, January 11th, 2010
X-RAID’S PETERHANSEL DROPS CRUCIAL MINUTES IN
SOFT SAND ON SHORTENED STAGE INTO LA SERENA
- Chicherit sets fourth fastest time for X-raid team
- X-raid’s Novitskiy completes stage in eighth and climbs to ninth
- Nasser Al-Attiyah wins stage and reduced Sainz’s overall lead
LA SERENA (Chile): Team X-raid GmbH’s Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret dropped crucial minutes in soft sand mid-way through the shortened ninth stage of the 2010 Dakar Rally between Copiapó and La Serena in Chile on Monday.
The delay cost them a potential fastest stage time and enabled BMW X3 CC team-mates Guerlain Chicherit and Tina Thörner to close to within 14m 35s of their fourth position in the overall classification.
“It was a good stage,” said Peterhansel. “For me I made a mistake and we were stuck in a slow place. I fell into a hole in the camel grass. It took a time to move the car very slowly. It was a day when it was easy to make mistakes. The difference to the top three is large and we are now relying on others to have problems. Today was a missed opportunity and now we will leave behind the leaders on a dusty stage tomorrow.”
Chicherit was still being plagued by a niggling problem. “I think we have a small wire loose somewhere. We also made a navigational error. We went behind a ridge and could not go back. I tried to find a way passed.”
Russia’s Leonid Novitskiy and German co-driver Andreas Schulz set the eighth fastest time in the third BMW X3 CC and climb three places to hold ninth in the unofficial overall classification, their cause helped by bad delays for Poland’s Krysztof Holowczyc, Brazil’s Guilherme Spinelli and American Robbie Gordon.
The stage was won by Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, who reduced Carlos Sainz’s overall advantage to 8m 36s.
Peterhansel’s record-breaking 54th stage win had been equalled by Kamaz’s Vladimir Tchaguine on Sunday’s stage and this afternoon’s delay meant that the Frenchman was unable to add to his stunning tally of Dakar stage successes.
Monday’s special stage was shortened at Sunday’s night’s briefing because of the risk of low-lying fog in the region. This is a regular phenomenon in this part of Chile and plagued the event on several stages in 2009.
The ASO duly reduced the competitive distance from 338km to just 170km and started the special much later in the morning (3h 45m) to prevent delays and to enable safety and medical helicopters to fly.
Peterhansel and Chicherit held second and third positions at the 30km point in the stage behind Al-Attiyah, although Peterhansel retained his leading position on the track. The pair maintained second and third through 71km, but Peterhansel was delayed in soft sand for around 10 minutes at the 95km mark and plummeted to ninth position through the next checkpoint at 117km. He had dropped in the region of 17 minutes to Al-Attiyah, while Novitskiy was running in 11th position.
The X-raid trio passed the 135km point in fourth, seventh and eighth positions, with Chicherit nestled in behind Al-Attiyah, Giniel de Villiers and Sainz. The Frenchman held on to finish fourth, with Peterhansel and Novitskiy taking sixth and eighth.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) the X-raid team will tackle a 238km special stage between La Serena and the Chilean capital Santiago. The day starts with a 112km liaison section, before the 10th stage winds its way along narrow agricultural-type tracks en route to the finish and a second liaison of 236km to the overnight halt.
Santiago is located in the country’s central valley at an elevation of 520 metres above sea level and is one of Latin America’s most modern commercial centres, with some of the world’s most modern infrastructure.
2010 Dakar Rally – positions on SS9 (unofficial @ 15.50 hrs):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg 1h 59m 28s
2. Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Volkswagen Race Touareg 2h 05m 27s
3. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 2h 07m 06s
4. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 2h 09m 41s
5. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 2h 10m 16s
6. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) BMW X3 CC 2h 16m 54s
8. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Andreas Schulz (D) BMW X3 CC 2h 19m 43s
2010 Dakar Rally – overall positions after SS9 (unofficial @ 15.50 hrs):
1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Volkswagen Race Touareg 33h 33m 40s
2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg 33h 42m 16s
3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 34h 00m 57s
4. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) BMW X3 CC 35h 47m 32s
5. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 36h 02m 07s
6. Carlos Sousa (P)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 37h 18m 07s
7. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 38h 10m 08s
8. Guilherme Spinelli (BR)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 38h 49m 22s
9. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Andreas Schulz (D) BMW X3 CC 39h 04m 38s
10. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer 39h 08m 00s
11. Orlando Terranova (RA)/Pascal Maimon (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 39h 10m 29s
Ends
Further information and photos are available at www.x-raid.de or contact Stefanie Marquard/Thomas Quandt at X-raid GmbH, Tel: + 49 (0) 6147 204670, E-mail: s.marquard@x-raid.de and t.quandt@x-raid.de.