After the dispute for the second stage, Repsol driver Nani Roma still leads the Portugese test, with a 25-second advantage over teammate Luc Alphand. Bad fortune crossed Stéphane Peterhansel’s path today, as his aspirations of a victory were dashed when he finished 55 minutes behind Roma, who commands the general classification behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Montero Evolution MPR14 Diesel.
The rain fallen last night forced the organisers to shorten the special the drivers had to run through twice, one in the morning and the other at midday after a quick stop. In the end, two runs on a 73-kilometre loop- style timed special, characterised by the tough conditions and the demands of a very slippery track. In spite of a faulty component in his turbo, Nani Roma managed to keep up a fast pace and held his lead in the general classification, preceding Alphand, who stands as his main competitor in this race.Peterhansel skidded off the track during the first special, and his car got trapped in a hole ten metres below the track. In the end, and after placing stones under the wheels of his Mitsubishi Montero Evolution MPR13, Peterhansel managed to rejoin the race, conceding just over an hour in this fourth special to Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner of today’s stage. The instructions today for Alphand and Roma were to maintain a fast pace though without taking too many risks, as the aim is to avoid mistakes and maintain the 25-minute margin they have over the third classified, Portugese driver Filipe Campos.Tomorrow there will be two more specials -204km- which will take the caravan to Évora, back in Portugal.Nani Roma, 1st, 7h 35mins 30secs,This morning’s special was very delicate and very dangerous, because it was extremely slippery. What’s more, we tried out some tyres with a new composition and it was hard getting used to them. It rained all night and there were some very muddy areas, so we were quite careful, because it was dangerous. A part belonging to the turbo broke during the first special and the car lost a lot of power. Then I started to drive more carefully, without pushing it too hard, taking more advantage of the momentum and avoiding mistakes. I enjoyed myself a lot and to be honest I was surprised I’m still in the lead, because the turbo wasn’t working and I thought we’d lost more time. I’m happy to be in the lead, because we were unable to fix it at midday and had to run the second special with the same problem.Luc Alphand, 2nd at 25 secs,This afternoon we tried to attack some more, because in the morning I saw it was very slippery and dangerous. In the first special I tried to maintain my pace avoiding any risks, and in the afternoon I went a bit faster, but there was no point in taking risks to try and win the stage, because Nasser is 43 minutes behind us and is not a threat. We’re still doing well and we’re going to try and win the rally, not the stages. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow, because the track can get very complicated and very dangerous, so let’s hope we run a good stage. Stéphane Peterhansel, 11th at 1h04mins 21secs,I went off the track in a very fast area. Today’s special was very slippery, and I skidded down a very big ditch, with a slope of about ten metres, and got trapped in a hole, with two wheels jammed. We had to make a pile of stones to get the car out and lost over an hour. It’s a shame, because after the puncture yesterday the problems seem to have piled up, and it’s a very fun rally, with very technical tracks which I really like. We’ll try to recover as many positions as we can, and work on improving the car, concentrating on the suspension and the setup.
