Ok, it’s been on and off for a few days.. Where is it all shaking out with three stages left to run?
Stage 6 before the rest day was cancelled due to bad weather, the marathon stage (no overnight service) distance was slashed again due to weather, and now the 1000km stage 9 has been binned too. The pressure will be on the organisers in regards to next years route.
Previously, on Overland and Expedition...
With stage 4 taking out many of the key runners, including last years winner and bike favourite Australian Toby Price, in what is now is clear was a very serious crash.
Toby has been cleared to fly back to Australia to continue his rehabilitation, so all the best mate. Just another special mention to Honda veteran Paulo Goncalves who stopped his own race to help Price. For sure not unusual on the Dakar, but just so great to see in top level motorsport (just for anyone who doesn’t know, as all the competitors are GPS tracked, any competitor who stops to help another will almost certainly be given that time back by the organisers).
So with Price out and the entire Honda team given a one hour penalty for re-fuelling in the wrong place (not cheating, just a mistake) Price’s American British team mate Sam Sunderland surged into the lead of the bikes.
Which he hasn’t relinquished since.
Stage wins to American (and thoroughly nice chap it would seem) Ricky Brabec and Joan Barreda, shows how strong Honda would have been. Another so nearly year, this event is a cruel mistress...
Three different manufacturers in the bike top 3, and the top 5 covered by 35 mins, means no one can afford to relax.
Laia is still giving the boys a run for their money.
20th outright on Stage 8.
With both Mikko Hirvonen and Nani Roma admitting they have no answer to the speed of the Peugeots, it seems like a straight fight now between Loeb and Peterhansel, with Despres keeping a watching brief in 3rd. Then Roma, Hirvonen and De-Villiers
With Loeb and Peterhansel trading fastest stage times and the lead slipping between the two of them. They are currently in a different league to the rest of the field. So will it be a race to the finish, or are there still a few big suprises left in this Dakar?
Peterhansel seems content to let someone else win for a change.
Or just some subtle mind games from the master? A bit of both I think. Let’s hope whatever happens we see some good fights over the next few days.
Gerard De Rooy continued to make up for his earlier delays by pushing through for another win in S5. Which just goes to show that despite it’s endurance nature, speed still counts on this rally. It must be a wild ride in his truck.
Although having three Kamaz behind in the standings would not have been what he wanted, as much as I love the whole Kamaz vibe, it’s hard not to root for De-Rooy as the lone warrior against the might of the Russian team. So Kamaz turned the screw...
Dmitry Sotnikov taking Stage 7 and then fourth was enough in Stage 8 to take the lead from De-Rooy when he could only manage 9th. 30 minutes covers the top 4 Trucks, two Kamaz, two Iveco in that order, still game on here too.
Hey, Renault Truck won Stage 8!
So, a bit of a good news story on the back of Toby Price’s crash and injuries. If that of other Australian rider Todd Smith. Whereas most spend months preparing for the Dakar, apprently the call was put into the Smith household just weeks before the event for one of the brothers to come ride a non-works KTM. So Todd and Jacob flipped a coin and Todd called it right.
He has set times inside the top 10. Safe to say it’s not his first rodeo...