The penultimate day of the Dakar Series Central Europe Rally had a good and a bad side for the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart. While Stèphane Peterhansel struggled hard with Carlos Sainz for the final victory in Hungary, Nani Roma was out of this fight -yesterday he was third at just three minutes behind teammate Peterhansel-, when a steering rod in his Mitsubishi MPR13 broke, on kilometer 92 of this morning’s special.
This incident forced him to withdraw from today’s test at the spot where the incident happened -a very uneven stretch in the special-, though tomorrow he will rejoin the race to complete the last special of the Dakar Series test Stéphane Peterhansel finished second this morning behind Sainz, who snatched 28 seconds from the Repsol driver, with Peterhansel losing his lead in favour of the Spanish driver. The 2007 Dakar winner found himself shrouded in the trail of dust left by teammate Alphand throughout the first special, which made him lose precious seconds. However, after today’s first special, Sainz had a very slight 6 second advantage over him. Alphand finished this first special in fourth position, 2 minutes 12 seconds behind Sainz. In the second special, Peterhansel gave it all he had, and fought with Sainz and Gordon for the victory. The American was the fastest in the end, with Sainz in second position one second behind, and the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart driver was 12 seconds behind the Spaniard. Tomorrow, these two drivers, who have lived very different experiences in the world of motor racing -Carlos Sainz, World WRC Rally Champion, and Stéphane Peterhansel, winner of the Dakar on three occasions-, will fight for the victory in the first of the Dakar Series tests, the Central Europe Rally. Luc Alphand, caught by surprise by the fast pace imposed by Sainz and Peterhansel, today finished in sixth position in this second special, and is now fourth in the general classification, at 7 seconds behind the third classified, German Depping. In the motorcycling category, Jordi Villadoms settles down in sixth position in the general classification. Today he ran the ninth fastest time in today’s first special and sixth in the second. In spite of the bad start in this rally, due to problems with the indications provided by the organisation when the route was changed, and his difficulty adapting to the terrain he encountered in Romania, Villadoms climbed positions until he made it to sixth place in the general classification, a position he hopes to secure tomorrow in the last special of the Central Europe Rally.Stéphane Peterhansel >> Audio It wasn’t a bad day, in spite of having lost the lead in the general classification. Yesterday was a very bad day, because he punctured a tyre and had a lot of problems, but this morning we had a 150 Km special where we gave it our best, and managed to get a bit of an advantage over Carlos Sainz. But a hundred kilometers into the special, we caught up with Luc -Alphand-, and we ended up losing 30 seconds because of the trail of dust. It was a shame. In the second special, which was shorter, we went for it again, gave it all we had, taking risks, but Carlos -Sainz- was even faster. Now we’re second, just 18 seconds behind, and the race isn’t over yet. Tomorrow anything can happen, and we’re going to risk all we’ve got to try and finish in first position.Luc Alphand >> Audio The pace here is definitely faster than in a Rally-Raid. I’ve never seen a pace like this before in a raid. Throughout the whole week, every day, in all the specials, the pace is really fast, and Sainz’s experience is evident. I have the same car as Stéphane Peterhansel, maybe a few different adjustments, but we’re nowhere near as fast. There’s a big risk because of the very fast pace, but we’re still in there. I was third today, so it was a good day. A shame about Nani, because the three of us were fighting for the podium. Now I’m fourth, seven seconds behind Depping. The last special is tomorrow, so I’m going to try and do well and make it to the podium.’Nani’ Roma >> Audio I’m a bit sad, mainly because it’s a part that is difficult to break, a steering rod; the mechanics are still trying to find out why it broke. It was in a very slow area, driving over a series of potholes, and it broke, just like that. The level of performance we demand of the cars and the mechanical parts is extremely high, and I think I should be happy because I’ve shown, above all to myself, that I can compete with much more experienced people, at very high speeds like we’ve been racing these last few days here. I’ll have to stick to that side of it, though you can’t avoid being sad because you came here to race and try and win, looking forward to struggling until the end. When you’re out of the race it’s a sad moment, but that’s the way it goes.Jordi Viladoms >> Audio It was a good day, more or less like yesterday. We still hold our position after repeating the two specials we did yesterday. The ground was drier today and that made driving much more comfortable. I tried to run a good pace throughout the special, both in the morning and in the afternoon, but those ahead of me obviously did better, and today even increased their advantage over me. There are 155 Km left tomorrow; the main thing is to keep concentrated, to not relax, and to avoid making any mistakes.
