There are now new leaders in both the Cars and Trucks categories after the giant 508km-long special stage SS8, and it also overall leader in the Bikes section claim another stage victory to place himself ever further ahead of his competition, reports EVAN ROTHMAN.
SS8: Antofagasta to Copiapo
Road Section: 268km
Special Stage: 508km
Bikes:
A very intriguing battle for the overall lead is now in the offing. Marc Coma (KTM) has the advantage over the rest of the field by 09min, but Cyril Despres (KTM) and Francisco Lopez Contardo (Aprilia) are in hot pursuit. No one knows this better than Coma, who rode a faultless stage to claim the stage victory to edge his lead ever closer to the horizon. The top three riders of the stage, in fact, were also the top three of the overall leaderboard. Lopez Contardo is 22min adrift of the overall lead, but this can all change in a single puncture for the leader. These riders raced through much of SS8 together, pushing each other’s limits and Coma and Lopez Contardo forced Despres to lead the way on the stage and thereby take charge of the navigational duties. This tactic resulted in Coma gaining an extra 01min 55sec out of Despres.
In fourth place is Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha), who is 40min behind the leader, and is only 20min adrift of third place so is still within striking range of a podium position come 16 Janaury 2011.
Unfortunately, Paulo Goncalves (BMW) retired from the rally with a broken collar bone after a heavy crash, leaving the might of BMW on the shoulders of Frans Verhoeven. Sitting in fifth place at the start of SS8, Verhoeven saw his gap to fourth place widen as he struggled with mechanical gremlins at the start of the stage. The day’s stage finish saw him drop to 26th overall…
Jonah Street (Yamaha) and Jordi Viladoms (Yamaha) dropped out of the top ten too, seeing them fight for mid-teen positions now.
Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (KTM) is the biggest climber on the leaderboard, moving up from 29th place to sixth at the end of this stage as the rider comes to grips with his 450cc machine.
Cars:
Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) lost the lead of the rally in SS8. He was not outpaced in the stage, but he made two errors in the sand dunes in the final five kilometres of the stage that dropped him valuable time to see his teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah claim the stage win and also move into the lead by 05min 14sec.
It is also a significant day for the Volkswagen team now has the top three spots on the overall leaderboard. Stephane Peterhansel (BMW X3CC) yet again fell victim to puncture on this stage, and then to add to his woes his BMW overheated in the final 100km of the stage to force the Frenchman to continue to the finish with great caution.
Mark Miller (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) now also moves up a position, into fifth overall, after Krystof Holoqycz (BMW X3CC) was slowed due to electrical problems and then the loss of power steering.
Trucks:
In what can only be called a blitzing performance, Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) regained the lead of the Trucks category after SS8. His performance in this stage saw him grab the fifth fastest stage time of the cars, with only the four Volkswagen Race Touareg 3s ahead of him. Chagin was also 04min quicker than Marc Coma through this stage; that is fast, incredibly fast!
The Russian now leads Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) by 03min 03sec after winning the stage by a whopping 32min, with Ales Loprais (Tatra) now an hour behind his rivals.
Classification after SS8:
Bikes:
01) M. Coma (KTM)
02) C. Despres (KTM) + 09m 19s
03) F. Lopez Contardo (Aprilia) + 22m 48s
04) H. Rodrigues (Yamaha) + 41m 42s
05) R. Faria (KTM) + 01hr 09m 59s
06) P-A. Ullevalseter (KTM) + 02hr 02m 26s
07) J. Pedrero Garcia (KTM) + 02hr 03m 01s
08) Q. Cody (Honda) + 02hr 31m 36s
09) J. Azevedo (KTM) + 02hr 40m 48s
10) I. Jakes (KTM) + 02hr 55m 00s
Cars:
01) N. Al-Attiyah/T. Gottschalk (VW)
02) C. Sainz/L. Cruz (VW) + 05m 14s
03) G. De Villiers/D. Von Zitzewitz (VW) + 48m 45s
04) S. Peterhansel/J-P. Cottret (BMW) + 01hr 33m 30s
05) M. Miller/R. Pitchford (VW) + 02hr 32m 23s
06) K. Holowycz/J-M. Fortin (BMW) + 03hr 38m 59s
07) R. Leal Dos Santos/P. Fiuza (BMW) + 04hr 51m 29s
08) C. Lavielle/J-P. Forthomme (Nissan) + 05hr 24m 55s
09) G. Spinelli/Y. Haddad (Mitsubishi) + 05hr 33m 48s
10) M. Kahle/T. Schunemann (SMG Buggy) + 07hr 06m 57s
Trucks:
01) V. Chagin (Kamaz)
02) F. Kabirov (Kamaz) + 03m 27s
03) A. Loprais (Tatra) + 29m 36s
04) E. Nikolaev (Kamaz) + 01hr 52m 28s
05) F. Echter (MAN) + 03hr 29m 52s
06) I. Mardeev (Kamaz) + 04hr 04m 00s
07) P. Vila (Iveco) + 05hr 54m 56s
08) A. Ardavichus (Kamaz) + 08hr 28m 46s
09) M. Van Vliet (MAN) + 08hr 48m 42s
10) M. Behringer (MAN) + 09hr 29m 38s