The driver and co-driver in the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart, Nani Roma & Lucas Cruz, lost any chance of a podium finish in the Dakar 2009 after their car stopped with technical problems 165km after the start of the 220km special that connected Fiambalá and La Rioja.
The pair in the only surviving turbo-charged Mitsubishi were being put under great pressure by the American Robbie Gordon aiming to get the podium finish occupied by the Spanish couple after the overall leader, Carlos Sainz, retired after an accident. Roma also nearly went off the road at the same point as Sainz, and 86km later his car stopped with technical problems.
A total of 132 motorbikes and quads, 89 cars and 56 trucks started the 12th leg that ended in La Rioja. A bad storm and constant rain in the morning meant that the suffocating heat of the previous day was lessened.
The original route was shortened by 33km last night after the organisers realised that the cars would have to go through a place of archaeological interest. In spite of the reduction in length the leg still had a difficult section through dunes with complicated navigation, but in the end it was neutralised at kilometre 175 because many teams were suffering delays in the dunes, between kilometres 140 – 170. Roma will shortly reach the bivouac in La Rioja and will have to wait to learn of the penalties imposed on the teams that did not complete the stage.
Tomorrow, Friday, sees the penultimate stage of this year`s Rally Dakar with a special of 545km, and a total distance of 753km, between La Rioja and Córdoba, the second most important city in Argentina. The organisers have compared this stage with the type of terrain found in the WRC – World Rally Championship. However the recent heavy rain in La Rioja and Córdoba means that the ASO has shortened the section that started to the south of Patquia to the east, direction El Chaco.
The leg will now start at control 4 (364km), and the teams will have to do a shortened special of 220km direction north on terrain where the Rally Argentina is held. It will finish just before reaching Villa Carlos Paz, the base for the WRC race to the west of Cordoba. The city of Córdoba is found in the foothills of the Sierra Chicas, at a height of 390m, alongside the Río Suquía, and is one of the oldest ex colonial capitals in the Spanish empire.
