A very tough day in this first edition of the Dakar Series 2008. Now on Romanian soil, the second day of the Central Europe Rally has proven to be a truly complicated challenge for the motorbike riders and the car and truck drivers. Today’s stage was a loop-style special with two runs on the same route, one first thing in the morning, the second in the afternoon.
Today’s special was complicated due to the stony and eroded terrain. In some areas, the lack of visibility due to the bright/shady patches caused by the trees lining the road made it hard to have a clear view of the ground. Ground that hid many traps in the form of stones, deep holes filled with water, snow in some areas, mud, and large furrows that crossed the track. In short, for many, today’s special was more similar to a Camel Trophy-style extreme test than anything else. A positive day for the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart in spite of being a very tough day. This morning, after the first run of the special, the victory went to Stéphane Peterhansel, with Alphand in third position at 27 seconds, Roma sixth at 1 minute 27 seconds, and Masuoka, with his MPR14 Diesel was eighth at 3 minutes 11 seconds behind his French teammate. In the afternoon, the victory went to Qatari driver Al Attiyah, with Alphand in fifth position at 43 seconds, Roma seventh at 54 seconds, Peterhansel eighth at 58 seconds and Masuoka tenth at 1 minute 21 seconds. At the end of this second day, Dominique Serieys, Repsol Mitsubishi Team Manager pointed out that it was a delicate stage, as when had a look at the roadbook notes, we could see that there was a very narrow part in the mountains, very winding and with snow. Finishing this second stage leading the Rally is positive, though for the moment the advantage is very small. We know that it will be a very disputed and tight race. Stéphane is now in first position with a 22 second lead over the two Volkswagens, and right behind them are Luc and Nani. It was also a good day for the Diesel project where Masuoka is collaborating, a project which we are working on in close collaboration with Repsol to develop diesel power. In the motorcycling category, Marc Coma had to withdraw today after suffering a fall during his first run of the special. After completing the 40 Km connection from Baia Mare to the start of the first 76 Km special, Coma held a good pace throughout the same until he suffered a rough accident. The Repsol rider had the accident when his front wheel struck a half-buried stone in the middle of his path and he was thrown into the air, badly hitting his right knee. At that moment, Marc Coma was riding full throttle in fourth gear, at about 70 Km/h. In spite of losing over a minute with the fall, Marc finished the special with the second fastest time, behind Casteu. After completing the 30 Km connection to Baia Mare, Marc chose to withdraw due to the injury to his right knee. Teammate Jordi Viladoms did not have an easy day either. In the morning, the Repsol KTM Team rider preferred not to push too hard a pace due to the difficulties and dangers of the terrain. His defensive strategy gave him the tenth fastest time, just over 5 minutes behind Frenchman Casteu, who was the fastest this morning. In the afternoon, the organisation had to change the route of the special due to the presence of a race truck in problems that was blocking the way for the rest of the contenders. These changes generated some confusion, and who had the worst of it was Viladoms, who saw how 8 minutes were lost due to a misunderstanding of the indications given by the organisation at the very start of the special. Viladoms finished in 69th position after the second special, falling to thirteenth position in the provisional general classification.Stéphane Peterhansel >> Audio Today’s stage was a bit like the Camel Trophy, a lot of water, snow, and constant driving up and down through mountains. Under these quite difficult conditions, with a lot of improvisation, we ran a good time and I’m quite happy. This afternoon’s second special was shorter, on very rough ground, and I was unable to find a good pace and feel comfortable. I ran a bad special, though in all the day didn’t go that bad, because yesterday afternoon I was in fourth position and now I’m in the lead, with a very slight advantage. But it’s not bad, and we’re happy with this position.Luc Alphand >> Audio Today’s special was more interesting than yesterday’s, now in the mountains, with snow and a lot of mud. So particularly during the first run it was quite difficult to find the right grip and take a few measurements, because we were not very familiar with the terrain. But in any case it was a good day, as we ran the correct times and made good use of the potential of our car. We are not too far down in the general classification, we’re still in there. I think the second run was easier. It was much shorter and there was no mud, as it had dried. It was good, because it’s very tight and we’re fourth in the general classification just one and a half minutes behind. It was a good second day and let’s hope it stays that way.’Nani’ Roma >> Audio We knew that today would be complicated, especially in the morning because there was a lot of mud, snow, and difficult areas for a car. But in spite of the problems we did better than I’d expected. We made a mistake in one section of the route and found it hard to turn around because it was really narrow, but were still able to run a good time. In the afternoon they shortened the special by 27 kilometers, and we attacked to try and improve our times, while still being cautious, because it was one of those days where you stand to lose more than you can win. I’m satisfied and I’m improving day by day, which is what it’s all about, getting back into my stride after being out of action for a time.Hiroshi Masuoka >> Audio We’re still working on development of the MPR14 Diesel and everything is going as expected. I also need to get used to things because in the 2007 Dakar I was out of the competition for many days, as I had an accident early on and had to withdraw. And as there was no Dakar this year, I still have to find my pace. But I’m happy. The new engine is working very well, and though some small problems arise, which is normal given how new it is, we are in a good position and improve day by day.Jordi Viladoms >> Audio At the end of today’s special we encontered what we feared the most in Romania; mud, furrowed ground and even snow, situations which complicated today a lot. What’s more, there were large stones in the middle of the track. When I saw the situation, I decided to be prudent, keep a more conservative pace and wait to see if the race can be recovered further down the line. It was during the second special when the mistake happened, and I still don’t know how it came about. The fact is that there was a navigation error, the special was shortened and they told us that we had to enter at a certain point, and in the end it was wrong. I got confused and was looking for a way-point which in the end we didn’t have to find. I consider that this whole situation happened because I was given the wrong information at the start of the special: I tried to do things right and it didn’t turn out that way.
