Wer verfolgt die Dakar Rally? - Geplaudere

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MENDOZA (Argentina): X-raid’s Sails Capital Racing Team’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Tina Thörner set the fastest time on the shortened 178km special stage from San Rafaël to Mendoza, but they missed a series of hidden way-points through the sand dunes early in the stage and the unfortunate penalty was exclusion from the rally.

Al-Attiyah had comfortably been the fastest driver on the event this year and had extended his overall rally lead to 7m 32s before the official penalty was awarded. It was a bitterly disappointing end to a superb week in control of the event for the Trebur-based X-raid team.

“The problem started last night when we found a lot of grass in the radiator and the car was getting very hot,” reflected a disappointed team director Sven Quandt. “We did as much work on the car as we could last night, but we could not change everything.

“This morning at the start of the sand dunes, the temperature began to climb immediately and Nasser had to decide whether to go in the sand or drive around. He decided to go around and, in so doing, he did not pass all the way-points. That meant that he was automatically vulnerable to a time penalty. But he missed too many way-points and the penalty in the rally regulations is exclusion from the race.”

Today’s special stage was originally shortened from 394km to 232km and then to 178km because of the risk of standing water caused by recent rainfall. Event officials sent a recce car into the stage on Wednesday to monitor a river crossing which was already 80cm high and the decision was taken to skip the section on safety grounds, hence the stage distance being reduced still further.

X-raid’s mechanics had worked into the small hours of the morning to give Al-Attiyah’s car a thorough check over after the punishing section through the dunes. The radiator was replaced and all aspects of the cooling system were given a detailed examination before the restart.

(Quelle www.x-raid.de)

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