Version EspañolaUpdate 9.47: What seemed to be an easy end of the stage for Tim, became more difficult than expected. Tim had a jammed clutch. Dakar.com does not display the arrival times for Tim and Chris, so I am not sure about that at the moment.
Update 23.59: Coronel is almost at the finish, he is now in 61st place (at 393.0 km). Chris is nearby CP2.
Update 22.17: As it seems Chris had problems with a broken clutch and is now going on.
Update 21.28: Coronel already passed CP2 (at 252.0 km). He did this in the 65th position, around 2h43 behind the leader. Leyds did not pass the 153.0 km point and probably is struggling with problems. He already lost three hours to Tim. I hope to get updated on this.
Update 17.35: At the first waypoint at 68.0 km Tim came through in position 52, about 23 minutes behind the leader. Leyds on the other hand, has not arrived at this point.
A new day for the McRae buggies to test the McRae in difficult circumstances. With a very long, 418.0 km, special this will be a good test for the buggies.
Both Chris and Tim are still in the race and did considerably well yesterday. Tim start at place 55 around the clock of 11h42’00″. Chris starts 18 minutes later at 12 o’clock.
Dakar.com about stage 6
598 km are on the menu for stage 6 of which 418 km against the clock that will still make contenders suffer with challenges like managing the efforts deployed and many pace changes. Indeed, after facing a first third of the special stage off-track, the contenders will be able to “let their horse(power) loose” on broad and fast tracks before facing an erg of some 50 km towards the end of the stage. Finally the contenders will end the special stage with a vertiginous and spectacular drop of about 3km on a sand slide… an unforgettable finish to get right to the Iquigue bivouac where the finish line has been set without any liaison afterwards.
Dakar.com
Question about how ASO manages the stats. Coronel, Leyds, and many others have no times for stage 3, and Chris has none for stage 5, too. Does that mean the time-keepers consider those stages incomplete? How does that affect the total racing time and starting position? Or did Coronel and Leyds take a penalty for not having a time for stage 3?
Chris must’ve hit some big trouble. He’s just passed the first marker ranked 77th at 2:42:00, more than twice as long as the 76th ranked competitor.
Reports on Dakar.com has it that a lot of drivers took wrong turns in the first portion of the stage. Has navigation been a problem for Chris or Tim?
As far as I know is that in one of the stages (I thought it was stage 5) Chris rolled over with his buggy and the antenne broke (so the connection broke).
I did not hear anything yet, had not had contact. Charly is also flying to the Dakar as we speak, so he’ll be able to give more updated news when he gets there.
At least Dakar’s giving Tim some decent coverage. They’ve posted an interview with him under “gossip” about the challenges facing him and his buggy.