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 | Dakar Rally 2013: Great day for Nasser Al Attiyah - De Rooy wins in trucks.
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Today saw the opening of hostilities in the car category. Only last evening, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz were sharing a pleasant meal in Pisco with Stéphane Peterhansel and Nani Roma.
Yet the Qatar Team's Spanish driver had already filed a complaint which would result in his table partner being stripped of both the stage 2 win and the overall lead! The race officials decided to deduct the time he'd spent looking for a waypoint which hadn't been "validated" by a malfunctioning GPS, leaving Sainz to lead the field on its way to Nazca.
The Matador's streak was cut short by electrical problems which forced him to stop several times and cost him roughly half an hour, but Nasser Al-Attiyah took over and kept the Qatar party going. The Qatari started in seventh place and went on to overtake all those in front of him except for Peterhansel. It was a great day at the office for Al-Attiyah, who climbed from seventh to second overall.
It'll be harder for Robby Gordon to bounce back, but the American cut his deficit from 55' in Pisco to 46' in Nazca. The other big winner was Stéphane Peterhansel, who reclaimed the overall lead he thought to have conquered yesterday.
But don't expect the X-Raid team to be all smiles tonight. While their captain was filling the bill, Krzysztof Holowczyc crashed 39 km into the special. His Mini jumped over a dune and had a rough landing which hurt the Polish driver's back and ribs. His co-driver Felipe Palmeiro emerged unscathed.
Only one driver has managed a hat-trick of wins in this year's Dakar, and it's none other than Gerard de Rooy. The Dutch truck driver's flawless performance inspired teammate Miki Biasion to a third place finish.
It also was the first time in the 2013 Dakar that the Kamaz team managed to put one of its trucks in the Top 3. Eduard Nikolaev only lost 1:24 minutes today and now lies 21:44 behind the defending champion in the overall classification.
2013/01/07 | 21:23 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/ASO
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