The famous Dakar Rally finished its third day on Monday 7 January and already the teams have been able to measure the difficulty of the exercise. Since the start, they have been crossing a scenery of dunes where orientation is tricky and where the sometimes very soft sand causes the participants to frequently get stuck, without mentioning the particularly high temperature. The third day stage went from Pisco to Nazca, a town on the west coast of Peru known for its enigmatic lines traced in the desert. While battle was raging in the lead between the big names like Cyril Desprès and Francisco 'Chaleco' Lopez on motorcycles, and Stéphane Peterhansel, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz in cars, the teams supported technically by Motul threw themselves headlong into the fray.
On motorcycles, team Honda HRC remains in the race, and Javier Pizzolito even managed to clinch 10th place of the third stage, which places him 21st in the overall standings. 'I left 50th and there was a lot of dust and fech fech at the beginning,' says Pizzolito. 'But when the way was clear I started to push and finished 10th'. Helder Rodrigues lost time because of a fuel issue, but nevertheless took 28th place in the overall. Note should also be taken of the excellent 34th place of Felipe Rios, of team Socopur owned by the Peralta family, Motul's importer in Peru.
In the cars category, Éric Vigouroux's team has been suffering since the start. After throttle issues on the first day in the beautiful Chevrolet and orientation problems on the second, the team got stuck in the sand on the third. 'I was surprised by the type of sand,' comments Éric. 'A very very soft mixture of sand and fech fech, I've never seen it before. (…) Since the start, we've been suffering misfortunes and, in the Dakar, problems attract problems. But let's remain positive, we've extricated ourselves and have everything to repair the car!'
The buggies of team SMG seem more at ease, but haven't been spared difficulties either. Having left very fast on the fourth stage and arriving in the lead at the second checkpoint, Guerlain Chicherit was delayed but nevertheless bagged 7th place of the day, which allows him to occupy 11th place in the overall. Benat Errandonea finished 10th of the stage and, thanks to his regularity since the start, occupies 8th place, in other words the best of the SMG buggies.
At MD Sport, the best place was obtained by Pascal Thomasse, 16th at the end of the third day. Carlos Sousa in his Great Wall lost 50 minutes but remains very correctly placed, 19th.
Meanwhile, Pierre Vasseur is 30th.
The week ahead will have its batch of difficulties, with the crossing of the Andes cordillera and Argentina's highest pass at 4,975 m! The engines are likely to suffer power losses, but the beauty of the scenery should reward even the most unlucky.
Photo credits: Neo Raid Rally Team / HRC Team
