The Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Director, Dominique Serieys, insists that he will not look at the leaderboard the first three or four days of the Dakar 2009. But the crews Stéphane Peterhansel-Jean-Paul Cottret and Nani Roma-Lucas Cruz are still driving strongly and battling to be among the race leaders after the third leg in Patagonia today, the stage between Puerto Madryn and Jacobacci.
Todat they finished fifth and sixth respectively, and now occupy fourth and fifth positions in the overall. Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard lost around 30 minutes before the first control because of a small fuel leak and fell back to tenth place. Nasser Al-Attiyah won the leg, althought Carlos Sainz has stayed at the top of the leaderboard.
The special was shortened to 616km. from the scheduled 550km, and ran through low parts of Patagonia, crossing zones with low undergrowth and grassland along winding tracks that at times were quite technical, before starting to climb towards heights of 900 metres.
The conditions at the bivouac in Jacobacci Monday evening differed from the hot town of Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic coast just 24 hours before. The town was previously known as Nahuel Niyeo, but got its new name in 1926, and was named after the engineer that built the railway that connected it to the rest of the world.
Tomorrowleg, the fourth day of the Dakar 2009, joins Jacobacci and Neuquén. The special section 459km, long starts just 4km. from the bivouac and crosses many rocky as well as sandy zones, and several wadis. The route continues through the Sierra Mesanlyes and the north-east of of the river Negro, to finish in the famous Valley of the Dinosaurs, a protected zone.
The final 25km. of the liaison takes the teams to the place where they will spend the night, close to the confluece of the Limay and Neuquén rivers. Neuquén is in an agricultural zone, is capital of the province that carries the same name and is the largest city in Patagonia.
Dominique Serieys, team director
“We will really see what develops over the coming days and then we will get a better indication of the overall situation in this rally.”
Luc Alphand >> Audio
“We had a fuel leak and had to stop and take everything out from the rear to see where the problem was. Everything else was fine today, but a fuel seal was not working and it cost me over 30 minutes trying to sort it all out. That was very frustrating.”
Stéphane Peterhansel >> Audio
“If the route is like the organisers said, then the first three stages were very fast and then it becomes more difficult. I hope that is true because we could be in a better position. Since the start I had no problems with the car but I struggled to follow Carlos Sainz this morning. He was too fast. I look forward to the more technical stages.”
Nani Roma >> Audio
“I don’t feel too bad about our position heading into the next group of stages. I had a puncture near the end, but we are still in the chasing pack and I am quite happy with my position on the road for tomorrow.”
