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 | Dakar Rally 2013: French Team Dessoude Juke Buggies keeps the pace.
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Heading northwest, the temperature rose a few degrees to turn into a real heat wave in La Rioja area. This new stage was very similar to the previous day with the main common point, dust. Just like yesterday, French Christian Lavieille and Jean-Michel Polato fought well with their Dessoude Juke Buggy but the dust was the main obstacle.
"On the 350 km of the special stage, we drove in the dust during 250 km, nothing exciting" said Christian Lavieille. "The train moved and we all follow. You must constantly slow down and push without being able to be close to the car you want to overtake. I did not want to tear out a wheel. Trying to overtake while driving blind, is to take a lot of risks. We had to be patient.
Yves Tartarin and Christian Poirault also took their troubles patiently. Despite some concerns yesterday, the crew maintains its position overall. "Yesterday it was a little hard. We ripped the inflation-deflation system, we had a puncture and we made a small navigation mistake. In fact, we were far in the starting list of this morning" Tartarin reported.
On this kind of track, overtaking is already a problem but with dust, it is almost an impossible mission. The first 100 km were not too bad but then we had a puncture! The stage was very nice but I feared to have a new puncture so I stayed very careful. I think the worst of the day was the last half hour. Half an hour in the terrible dust of a quad. A quad makes more dust than a car. Unable to move, I was going crazy."
The trio Chavigny Leneveu-Atacama works great! For proof, a new move up in overall standings and during the stage. "The stage was beautiful but as Monday, the dust remains a real problem to overtake. We set a good pace, without being impatient. Tomorrow, back to the dunes. The dunes of Fiambala may be terrible but morale and condition are at the top!"
2013/01/16 | 15:39 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/DESSOUDE
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