This the longest stage of the Dakar thus far proved to be a challenge for all competitors. The leaderboard of the Cars and Bikes remains the same, but Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) has leapfrogged two competitors in the Trucks category to now lead his class, reports EVAN ROTHMAN.
SS3: San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy
Road Section: Bikes and Cars: 231km; Trucks: 408km
Special Stage: Bikes: 521km; Cars: 500km; Trucks: 226km
Bikes:
Now entering more testing terrain and requiring more navigational skill, SS3 saw Cyril Despres (KTM) hiccup in his stride: he made several navigational errors on the route, allowing Marc Coma (KTM) to close the gap in his lead and to claim the stage victory. In fact, a quarter of the way into the stage Despres was more than 04min behind Goncalves (BMW) who now lies in fourth place overall. Despres managed to find his rhythm and salvage his lead from the clutches of Coma. The gap between Coma and Despres is now only 14sec!
Cars:
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) claimed this stage victory, to also jump ahead of Stephane Peterhansel (BMW X3CC) into second place overall in the classification. Al-Attiyah wowed all in the bivouac with his pace on this arduous 500km stage by gaining on overall leader Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) in the stage, but the talented and experienced veteran that is Sainz outfoxed Al-Attiyah to not allow the Qatari to pass. At the end of the stage, Al-Attiyah only gained 25sec on Sainz.
Peterhansel is now 04min 19sec behind Sainz in the classification, and this still places the Frenchman well within striking range of the leading two Volkswagen Race Touareg 3s. Behind Peterhansel, the 2009 winner Giniel De Villiers (Vlkswagen Race Touareg 3) is driving strongly, but losing stage time to his two leading teammates, dropping 16min 57sec behind Sainz. De Villiers will need to keep an eye on the hard-charging BMW X3CC of Krystof Holowycz who is only five minutes behind… Orlando Terranova (BMW X3CC) continues his impressive performance in sixth place overall, and is increasing his speed on each stage as he gains in confidence in his new car.
Trucks:
Returning to the top of the leaderboard is Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz), who not only won the stage but also regained the lead of the classification. His stage win was dominant: 06min 45sec quicker than his fastest rival, Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz). Chagin now leads the field by a whopping 06min 23sec, and remember this category has fought over mere seconds on the previous two stages. Ales Loprais (Tatra) is now in third place, but still only 14sec adrift of second-placed Kabirov and 06min 37sec behind Chagin.
The rest of the field is led by Franz Echter (MAN) in fourth place, but this crew is already trailing Chagin by over 35min.
Classification after SS3:
Bikes:
01) C. Despres (KTM) – 09hr 38m 58s
02) M. Coma (KTM) + 14s
03) R. Faria (KTM) + 09m 38s
04) P. Goncalves (BMW) + 10m 43s
05) D. Fretigne (BMW) + 16m 07s
06) O. Pain (Yamaha) + 16m 21s
07) F. Lopez Contardo (Aprilia) + 18m 21s
08) H. Rodrigues (Yamaha) + 19m 21s
09) J. Pedrero Garcia (KTM) + 19m 22s
10) J. Street (Yamaha) + 20m 50s
Cars:
01) C. Sainz/L. Cruz (Volkswagen) – 09hr 12m 05s
02) N. Al Attiyah/T. Gottschalk (Volkswagen) + 03m 34s
03) S. Peterhansel/J-P. Cottrett (BMW) + 04m 19s
04) G. De Villiers/D. Von Zitzewitz (Volkswagen) + 16m 57s
05) K. Holowycz/J-M. Fortin (BMW) + 21m 49s
06) O. Terranova/F. Palmeiro (BMW) + 29m 07s
07) L. Novitsky/A. Schulz (BMW) + 39m 05s
08) G. Spinelli/Y. Haddad (Mitsubishi) + 48m 22s
09) J. Roma/M. Perin (Nissan) + 54m 33s
10) C. Lavielle/J-P. Forthomme (Nissan) + 57m 55s
Trucks:
01) V. Chagin (Kamaz) – 09hr 38m 58s
02) F. Kabirov (Kamaz) + 06m 23s
03) A. Loprais (Tatra) + 06m 37s
04) F. Echter (MAN) + 35m 00s
05) E. Nikolaev (Kamaz) + 38m 58s
06) P. Vila (Iveco) + 44m 41s
07) M. Van Vliet (MAN) + 49m 00s
08) A. De Azevedo (Tatra) + 50m 58s
09) H. Duisters (Iveco) + 54m 11s
10) I. Mardeev (Kamaz) + 55m 29s