2007 Dakar Rally
Leg 3 Nador ? Er Rachidia
Liaison: 205 km, Special 252.00 km, Liaison 191.00 km, Total 648 km
Weather conditions: warm and sunny: 15-23C
For immediate release
Monday, January 8th, 2007
PETERHANSEL UP TO FOURTH AS ALL FOUR TEAM REPSOL MITSUBISHI RALLIART CARS SURGE INTO TOP EIGHT
Third and fourth fastest times for French duo of Peterhansel and Alphand
Power steering damage costs Masuoka potential stage win; puncture for Roma
ER RACHIDIA, Morocco ? Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart drivers St?phane Peterhansel, Luc Alphand, Hiroshi Masuoka and Joan ?Nani? Roma completed the 252 km special between Nador and Er Rachidia in Morocco in third, fourth, seventh and eighth places on Monday. They will now start the fourth special stage of the 29th Dakar Rally on Tuesday morning with all four cars inside the top eight in the overall classification.
The Mitsubishi quartet had begun the first day of the race in Africa in fourth, fifth, eighth and 12th positions and now hold fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth overall, as they continue to apply the pressure on early rally leaders Carlos Sainz, Giniel de Villiers and Carlos Sousa from the rival Volkswagen team.
St?phane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret were the fastest of the Mitsubishi crews on today?s stage, the French pair pipping defending champions and team mates Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard by 24 seconds in bright, sunny conditions in North Africa.
?It was not easy at all,? said Peterhansel. ?The stage was not so long, but very hard. There was a lot of dust. Maybe we passed more than 100 bikes and that means you need to take care. I took no risks. I prefer not to open the stage in the morning, so I have a good position now. We know the beginning of the stage well, but it will be a long day. Normally in Morocco the stages are around 300km, but this will be much longer.?
Alphand began the stage behind Spaniard Carlos Sainz and team mates Joan ?Nani? Roma and Lucas Cruz. Alphand lost a couple of minutes to his rivals before the first passage control, but maintained a measured pace over the closing kilometres to secure the fourth fastest time and move up four places in the overall standings.
?I started quite slowly, because I did not want to get a puncture,? said Alphand. ?Over the first 25km there were some big rocks and maybe we drove a little too slowly. There was lots of dust and too many bikes to overtake. Afterwards we finished much better. There were a couple of tiny diversions on two parallel tracks, but nothing too serious.?
Japan?s Hiroshi Masuoka and French co-driver Pascal Maimon began brightly this morning and were running fastest on the road in the early kilometres, before slipping behind Sainz and De Villiers. They were the fastest of the Mitsubishi crews at the first passage control, 28 seconds ahead of Roma and Cruz, but eventually finished the special in seventh position after damaging the power-assisted steering while overtaking a motorcycle competitor in dusty conditions on a rock-lined track 90km from the stage finish.
?Ninety kilometres before the finish there were four bikes and one quad in a wadi, with a lot of dust,? said Masuoka. ?We touched a big stone and damaged the power steering. It was very difficult to finish the stage.?
Joan ?Nani? Roma and Mitsubishi team debutant Lucas Cruz were the second crew on the stage this morning in a fourth Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution, but a puncture cost them over six minutes and the crew slipped to seventh in the overall rankings after the passage control.
?Not so good today,? said Roma. ?I had two punctures and a shock absorber problem. The jack was not working properly and we had to change the wheel manually. I expected to be around 15th at the end of the stage, so eighth was okay, because I lost my concentration a little after the punctures and the delays cost me six minutes It was frustrating.?
?It is a nice feeling to finish my first African special stage with Mitsubishi,? said co-driver Lucas Cruz. ?But it was not easy. It was difficult to take the right road. There were many junctions and parallel pistes.
?We know that Volkswagen are pushing, but the rally has started in a similar fashion to last year,? said MMSP?s Managing and Sporting Director Dominique Serieys. ?Last year St?phane lost some minutes with illness and a puncture and ?Nani? had the puncture today. There are three days in Morocco and it appears each of the teams have a different strategy. Hiroshi was very fast this morning. That is very pleasing.
?We know that this area of Morocco is not to our advantage. The higher altitude in the mountains seems to suit the Volkswagens better. The leading VWs will need to open the track tomorrow, so we will bide our time and be patient. In Tan Tan, last year, St?phane was some way behind and it all changed in Mauritania. We will keep calm and look at the situation very carefully in Atar on the rest day next Saturday.?
Tomorrow (Tuesday) marks the second special stage in Africa between Er Rachidia and the tourist town of Ouarzazate. A 96km liaison takes teams to the beginning of the gruelling 405km special ? the longest timed section in Morocco ? and a 178km liaison steers crews into the bivouac.
The second Morocco stage features several sections used in the past by teams for testing, including sand dunes and numerous rutted and pot-holed roads. The stage starts near Erfoud ? the base for Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart during two test sessions in July and September last year ? and skirts Rissani, before heading south of Zagora to a finish near Foum-Zguid.
Positions on SSS3 ?
1. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk Von Zitzewitz (D) Volkswagen Touareg 2h 46m 12s
2. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel P?rin (F) Volkswagen Touareg 2h 46m 37s
3. St?phane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 2h 49m 30s
4. Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 2h 49m 54s
5. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Touareg 2h 50m 39s
6. Carlos Sousa (P)/Andreas Schulz (D) Volkswagen Touareg 2h 51m 48s
7. Hiroshi Masuoka (J)/Pascal Maimon (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 2h 51m 52s
8. Joan ?Nani? Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 2h 55m 30s
Positions after leg 3 ?
1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel P?rin (F) Volkswagen Touareg 5h 09m 19s
2. Giniel de Villiers (ZA)/Dirk Von Zitzewitz (D) Volkswagen Touareg 5h 10m 21s
3. Carlos Sousa (P)/Andreas Schulz (D) Volkswagen Touareg 5h 13m 45s
4. St?phane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 5h 15m 22s
5. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Touareg 5h 18m 31s
6. Hiroshi Masuoka (J)/Pascal Maimon (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 5h 20m 36s
7. Joan ?Nani? Roma (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 5h 20m 56s
8. Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 5h 21m 18s
9. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Mattieu Baumel (F) BMW X3CC 5h 22m 18s
10. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X3 CC 5h 31m 58s
Ends
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