Dakar Rally 2008 - 2011

Dakar 2011: Stage 2 (Cars)-Sainz keeps lead despite problem


Spain's Carlos Sainz won the second stage of the Dakar Rally between Cordoba and Tucuman to increase his lead atop the car standings.

The Volkswagen man completed the 324km stage in 3:11:28 to leave him 1:03 ahead of Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Stephane Perhandsel in the BMW was third and the Frenchman remains second in the overall standings, 3:05 behind Sainz and just 14 seconds ahead of Al-Attiyah in third.

Despite winning the stage though, Sainz said his was disappointed because a wiper problem cost him some time.
"Again it was a very difficult stage to negotiate. I suffered from problems with my wipers that did not work. For ten miles, I could see nothing and I had to drive very slowly," he said.

"I'm very disappointed. I probably lost a lot of time. I do not understand why we still had this problem, because on Sunday the mechanics checked he problem."

The race continues on Monday as the drivers travel from Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy.



 
Dakar 2011: Stage 3 (Bikes)-Steady Coma edges closer


Spaniard Marc Coma, riding for KTM, won the third stage of the 521 kilometres special motorcycle section of the Dakar Rally in Argentina.


Spaniard Marc Coma, riding for KTM, won the third stage of the 521 kilometres special motorcycle section of the Dakar Rally in Argentina.

Coma's success saw him close in on the head of the standings as he crossed the line in 4hr 18min 55sec, 2min 2sec clear of current leader and French KTM rider Cyril Despres, whose overall lead is now just 14sec.

The steady Coma produced an efficient ride on the stage from Tucuman to Jujuy in northern Argentina to claim his 12th career victory at the Dakar.

"That was a really authentic Dakar day: the first part with lots of navigation, then more riding on the rest. I'm happy with where I am. I took advantage of a little navigation mistake by Cyril Despres. Of course it's important to win a special, but my aim is to win the rally," said Coma.

The change in terrain, which demanded more subtle navigational skills than on the last two stages, saw Despres struggle, losing a significant part of his lead due to several early mistakes.

After 113 kilometres of racing, 2010 the title holder found himself more than 4 minutes behind the BMW belonging to early leader Paulo Gonçalves.

Despres, who managed to make up some of the time lost after recovering on the second half of the day, held on to his position as leader of the general standings.

"Marc Coma caught up with me very quickly. There were a lot of riders at the start of the special. I was very careful during the first 10 kilometres and then after 11 kilometres I got it completely wrong," said Despres.

"I didn't lose two hours, but several precious minutes. In the end, I limited the damage, because I finished 20 seconds behind Marc. He must have gained 2 minutes 20 seconds on me. It's not huge amount of time, but I would've liked to have kept it for myself," he concluded.

Coma was not the only rider to capitalise on the stage. Gonçalves, third-placed 3 minutes and 36 seconds behind the stage winner, moves up the overall classification to 4th.

Frenchman Olivier Pain also produced a quality ride after targeting the stage for his first victory at the Dakar. In the end, the Yamaha rider finished fourth, but moved from 11th place to 6th in the standings.

The youngest of the contenders for the Top 5 places overtook a fading Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez, who lost 13 minutes today and now lies in 7th, 18 minutes behind Coma.

Source: SBS Dakar Rally
 
Dakar 2011: Stage 4: Cars; Front-runner Sainz wins again



Carlos Sainz won the stage on day five and in the process extended his overall lead to four minutes and 24 seconds in the Dakar Rally.

The Spaniard has been strong every day of the event so far, and on the 207km stage from Jujuy to Calama it was no different, as a confident finish lifted him above the early pace-setter, Stephane Peterhansel in the BMW.

Peterhansel set the fastest time up to way-point four, but he was overhauled by Sainz and Volkswagen team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah, who went on to take second place.

The top three on the day mirrored the top three in the overall standings, with Peterhansel lagging a further 77 seconds behind Al-Attiyah.
Sainz said: "The stage today started with some tricky road sections but we were not too bad, then we joined classic desert tracks and it was difficult in terms of navigation to find the correct way but Lukas (Cruz, his co-driver) did a good job.

"Tomorrow is a difficult day, 500km entering the Atacama and the first dunes. We will try to do a good job.".

Source: Eurosport
 
Dakar 2011: Stage 5 - Cars; Peterhansel pressures Sainz


Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel won stage five of the Dakar Rally, beating Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah between Calama and Inique in Chile.

The BMW driver completed the 423km special stage in four hours, 33 minutes and 19 seconds, 1:24 ahead of Al-Attiyah, in a Volkswagen.

It is Peterhansel's first stage this time out and the 56th Dakar win of his career.

Spanish veteran Carlos Sainz came third, 3:15 behind Peterhansel, but remains top of the general classification with a 2:26 lead over the Frenchman.

Al-Attiyah slips behind Peterhansel to third.

Source: Eurosport
 
Dakar 2011: Stage 6: Motorbike - Faria avenges stage one
loss.

Portugal's Ruben Faria took stage six of the Dakar Rally, erasing the memory of losing out in the first stage.

The KTM rider was 50 seconds quicker than compatriot Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) in the 465km special between Iquique and Arica in Northern Chile.

Faria had won stage one of the 33rd Dakar but was stripped of the victory after he was handed a one-minute penalty.

In the race for the overall title, Frenchman Cyril Despres came third, 3:54 off team-mate Faria, to cut Marc Coma's lead by 1:26.
Spaniard Coma, also of KTM, still leads by 8.48.
 
Today: Rest day

Mpambano utaendelea tena kesho. Siku njema
 
Dakar 2011: Stage 7 Bikes: Won by Lopez Contardo..


Local star Francisco Lopez Contardo took the seventh stage in the Dakar Rally ahead of defending champion Cyril Despres.

The Chilean came home after the stage from Arica to Antofagasta two minutes and 21 seconds ahead of the Frenchman a and three minutes 45 seconds ahead of Spaniard Marc Coma, the current leader in the overall standings.

Coma has his lead reduced to seven minutes 24 seconds over Despres, while Lopez Contardo remains third, more than 18 minutes off the front.

Despres was pleased to gain ground on Coma as the rally moves into its final week.

"The rest day was a good thing for the bike and for the man," Despres said.

"Today was one of the best days of motocross-type racing of my entire life.

"Not only was it a beautiful stage, it was also a fantastic one to ride. A really great day, even in terms of results."

Source: Eurosport
 
Dakar 2011: Stage 8. Cars: Al-Attiyah takes overall lead


Nasser Al-Attiyah (Volkswagen) won the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally to take the overall lead from team-mate Carlos Sainz.

The Qatari went into the stage from Copiapo to Antofagasta just 1:22 behind the Spaniard but now leads by a chunky 5:14 after taking full advantage of Sainz getting stuck in a sand dune during the final leg of the stage.

Once again the top two were way ahead of the field with 2009 champion Giniel de Villiers finishing third – over 17 minutes back – and the South African is now third in the overall standings 48:27 behind Al-Attiyah.

He moved up one place because it was a nightmare day for Stephane Peterhansel who saw all hope of a tenth Dakar title disappear.

The Frenchman suffered from a puncture and an overheating engine and lost over an hour on Al-Attiyah.

Eurosport
 
Dakar 2011: Stage 9. Cars: Sainz closes gap on Al-Attiyah


Carlos Sainz clawed back some time on closet rival and team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah in the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally.

The Spaniard won the 235km special around Copiapo in northern Chile ahead of his fellow Volkswagen driver by 1:56 but the Quatari man still leads in the overall standings by 3:18.

"I'm happy with my day, especially since dunes, desert and off-track terrain aren't my favourite type," said Sainz.

"We drove a good special. After 100km we caught up with then overtook Nasser. He had a puncture, but afterwards he clawed back a bit of time on us. Tomorrow it will be me opening the way and the roles will be reversed."

Giniel de Villiers, Stephane Peterhansel and Mark Miller came next to hold on to their respective third, fourth and fifth places in the overall standings.


Eurosport
 
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