TWO STAGES BETWEEN A VOLKSWAGEN and a 1-2-3
author: Leon Botha
Carlos Sainz must have given it a though or two to ask one or two of his many fans in this area to see to it that Nasser Al-Attiyah lose a few minutes more in stage 12 just to get team orders to kick in!
I mean how much pressure can a guy handle at his age?
Yesterday all went Volkswagen's way with Sainz winning the stage from a charging Al-Attiyah by 52 seconds. To rub a bit of salt and sand into the open BMW wounds Mark Miller and our own South African Ralph Pitchford made no mistake to bring the third contending Tuareg home in third fastest stage position.
1-2-3 overall and 1-2-3 for the day's stage not bad for a few expensive shopping cars heh?
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From 2009 Winner to 2010 Waterman - to Winner again in 2011?
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Giniel de Villiers opened the stage for the Volkswagen team yesterday morning and needless to say he travelled for about three kilometres before he waited in the shade of a tree for his three more successful team mates to pass before he gave chase playing his role as Dakar "water carrier" as it is popularly known.
Safely tucked into seventh position he is carrying a few more spares than normal and will act as the first line of defence if anything goes wrong with any of the three leading Volkswagens. His help will be stretched as far as having to strip some parts off his car to keep the top three going.
This is the same stage that caused the BMW team some hassle last year and in 2010 it lay waiting for both the Beemers to come through for the challenge.
Wednesday's stage winner, Guerlain Chicherit (France) in a BMW X3 took off first in Stage 12 yesterday morning, after winning Stage 11 ahead of the local hero Orlando Terranova in a Mitsubishi Lancer.
After 63 km the Frenchman ripped off his right front wheel and wishbone and damaged the transmission on the X3. He lost a lot of time finishing 28th on stage and dropping down to fifth place overall.
Stéphane Peterhansel in turn picked up an engine problem about 30 km from the finishing line and drove at about 30 km/h to the finish. He also lost time, but said that they were nevertheless happy to be there.
The last 6kms of the 297km Stage12 the competitors had to cover on the third last day of the 2010 Argentina Chile Dakar Rally, forced the organisers to stop the stage early and let the competitors drive at slow speed due to massive numbers of spectators from the nearby town of Mendoza showing up at the finish!
The stage was also faced with a neutralized section between 204 km and 334 km where competitors were required to drive on the main tar road whilst passing through a listed natural heritage site where dinosaur remains were found. The rest of the stage was technical again with lots of jumps and soft powder sand that left many bike and car competitors with aching bodies by the end of the stage.
In the Open category, unsurprisingly American Robby Gordon (Hummer) claimed his 11th triumph out of 12 specials, with the 7th best time of the day.
Finally, in the Production category, Japan’s Jun Mitsuhashi won his 8th special on the 32nd edition, by beating Frenchmen Frederic Chavigny (Nissan) and Jean-Pierre Strugo (Nissan) by 7’54 and 9’08 respectively. In the general standings for the category after this 12th special, Japanese driver Mitsuhashi now boasts a lead of 6.31:23 over Spaniard Xavier Foj (Toyota) and 14.02;20 over France’s Chavigny (Nissan).
Stage 13, the penultimate stage of the event will start in San Rafael with 76km liaison before the 368km stage. The competitors will then travel a further 281km liaison to get to Santa Rosa (Argentina) with Carlos Sainz again first on the road.
In this stage it will be crucial for Carlos Sainz to find exactly the right tempo to ensure that he makes no mistakes through the very tricky Nuhuil dunes where one mistake can easily kill his lead!
After the first fast and then stone filled section the competitors will be faced by maximum attack rally tracks where the top speed of the cars will be tested to the limits.
Any rally driver will tell you that now is the time on any event where you start to hear suspect noises, where everything starts feeling "funny" and where many drivers make unnecessary mistakes. They simply can afterwards, not believe how stupid they were to do this or that. One millisecond lacking concentration and the event is something of the past!
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Stage 13
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One can not but feel sorry for Volkswagen "boss" Kris Nissen - he must have aged 14 years in as many days. One can not wish for a better position at this stage of the rally - but do you need two top class drivers pushing each other to the very limit up to the end of the race?
OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE
12
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N°
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Driver
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Co-driver
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Make
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Time
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Variation
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1
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303
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SAINZ (ESP)
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CRUZ (ESP)
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VOLKSWAGEN
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42:47:24
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00:00:00
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2
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306
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AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)
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GOTTSCHALK (DEU)
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VOLKSWAGEN
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42:52:44
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00:05:20
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3
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305
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MILLER (USA)
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PITCHFORD (ZAF)
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VOLKSWAGEN
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43:15:36
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00:28:12
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4
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301
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PETERHANSEL (FRA)
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COTTRET (FRA)
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BMW
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45:08:06
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02:20:42
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5
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307
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CHICHERIT (FRA)
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THOERNER (CHE)
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BMW
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46:50:14
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04:02:50
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6
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314
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SOUSA (PRT)
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BAUMEL (FRA)
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MITSUBISHI
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47:00:49
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04:13:25
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7
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300
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DE VILLIERS (ZAF)
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VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU)
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VOLKSWAGEN
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47:52:18
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05:04:54
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8
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302
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GORDON (USA)
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GRIDER (USA)
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HUMMER
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48:39:58
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05:52:34
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9
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322
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SPINELLI (BRA)
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PALMEIRO (PRT)
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MITSUBISHI
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48:42:46
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05:55:22
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10
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311
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TERRANOVA (ARG)
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MAIMON (FRA)
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MITSUBISHI
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48:42:56
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05:55:32
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11
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310
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NOVITSKIY (RUS)
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SCHULZ (DEU)
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BMW
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49:07:07
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06:19:43
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12
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332
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BARBOSA (PRT)
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RAMALHO (PRT)
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MITSUBISHI
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49:39:27
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06:52:03
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13
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318
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MISSLIN (FRA)
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POLATO (FRA)
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MITSUBISHI
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49:40:28
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06:53:04
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14
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336
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LEAL DOS SANTOS (PRT)
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FIUZA (PRT)
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BMW
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51:19:04
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08:31:40
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15
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317
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VAN DEIJNE (NLD)
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ROSEGAAR (NLD)
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MITSUBISHI
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56:09:57
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13:22:33
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16
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323
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ERRANDONEA (AND)
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GARCIN (FRA)
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SMG
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56:33:32
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13:46:08
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17
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341
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MITSUHASHI (JPN)
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CATTARELLI (FRA)
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TOYOTA
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58:51:26
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16:04:02
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18
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315
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KAHLE (DEU)
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SCHÜNEMANN (DEU)
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Fast - Speed
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61:14:02
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18:26:38
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19
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330
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SIREYJOL (FRA)
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WISSMANNS (FRA)
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BOWLER
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61:52:45
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19:05:21
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20
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351
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BALDWIN (USA)
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WALCH (USA)
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HUMMER
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63:52:01
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21:04:37
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