Courtesy of Nancy Knapp Schilke - Motorsport.com
Giniel de Villiers took his first Dakar Stage victory of 2007 on SS7, and in the process also claimed the overall lead from his Volkswagen Race Touareg teammate, Carlos Sainz, as Mauritanian sandstorms and high winds forced the organizers to change the first of two scheduled marathons in the African country from 542km to 407.6 for safety reasons.
"I'm happy that we've taken the lead by claiming stage victory on such a difficult day," de Villiers sighed. "After ten kilometres we took the wrong way, after that, we formed a group of vehicles with Stephane Peterhansel, Robby Gordon and Carlos Sainz. The car was running very well, even on an 80-kilometer leg across camel grass it felt like a charm."
Some crews faltered, some had mechanical issues, some got lost and while some of the competitors recovered, others saw their dream of reaching Dakar has ended on the seventh stage in this year's cross-country rally.
Among those who will return home early were Gerard De Rooy, whose dad Jan De Rooy saw his dream to take a second Dakar victory shattered yesterday, 20 years after he became a legend. The Ginaf heavy Truck had a melted cylinder, taking out the De Rooy 2007 team that was holding down second in the Truck overall picture.
Finnish racer Ari Vatanen has seen ups and downs on the 29th Edition of Dakar. Today, was the worst as it ended his hopes of getting to Lake Rose faded for the four-time Dakar winner. The Volkswagen Touareg went up in flames 344km into today's special. Both Vatanen and navigator Fabrizia Pons were unharmed.
Mitsubishi's Joan "Nani" Roma with his co-pilot Lucas Cruz did several flips in their Pajero near the 300km mark. They were uninjured and were able to return once they made the needed repairs, but fell to 23rd position. Roma had moved from two wheels to four in 2005, and the 2004 Dakar Bike winner had been seventh overall after stage six.
Yesterday's stage six Bike winner Jordi Viladoms -- his first Dakar special stage victory in his second attempt to reach the Atlantic ocean beach in Senegal -- fell today and now has a broken arm. The young Team Repsol KTM rider who was filled with smiles yesterday has had to withdraw.
Today's winners were those with plenty of experience on the demanding Mauritania route.
De Villiers and co-driver Dirk Von Zitzewz kept the pressure on the Mitsubishi runners with a fine performance again today, as the South African driver clocked a time of four hours and 46 seconds in his Volkswagen Motorsport Touareg.
Peterhansel, the legendary eight-time Dakar winner (two in the Car class), knows the challenges that Mauritania has to offer. In today's special, the French racer sat the early pace with his co-pilot Jean-Paul Cottret. The Team Repsol Mitsubishi Pajero finished second by two minutes and 46 seconds and has moved into third, although still almost 25 minutes off the leader.
"This morning I thought that the stage would be harder," said Peterhansel. "Normally this kind of stage has soft sand and dunes, but today we only had a few dunes. It was soft but not too long. We tried to follow the line of the motorbikes. It is important to keep the concentration and follow the correct line. Near the end I got stuck in the sand at the very last dune. We tried to pass with high tire pressure, but it was not easy."
Third on the stage and adrift of his teammate by nearly five minutes, the day cost Sainz and his navigator Michel Perin the overall lead. De Villiers now has a slight edge of 1:39 over the Spaniard in the overall standings.
"Visibility was absolutely poor in the sand storm today, nevertheless the day generally went quite well for us," Sainz explained. "We lost the lead because twice we got stuck in the dunes. In these incidents the improved sand panels and, above all, our intensive practice paid off tremendously because we got out in a relatively short time. When things threatened to get tough again a third time we stopped in time to let some air out of the tyres."
Meanwhile, former third-place runner Carlos Sousa lost some two hours, falling to ninth, while fourth-placed Luc Alphand fell to fifth behind his teammate Peterhansel.
The 2005 Dakar Bike winner, Cyril Despres, notched his first stage victory in this year's Dakar. With today's time of four hours, 30 minutes and 42 seconds, Despres has moved to fourth overall on his Gauloises Racing KTM 690. The French rider is 45 minutes adrift of overall Bike leader and defending title holder Marc Coma, and was not thrilled about the shortened stage.
"I needed those 134 km to gain back some time I lost in previous stages," the KTM pilot said. "I'm pleased I won this stage, it can be important, but in the end I need the time more than a stage win."
The Scandinavian KTM 600 rider Pal Anders Ullevalseter placed second, nearly three minutes off Despres' pace. David Casteu rounded out the top five, 4:36 behind his Gauloises teammate.
Team Repsol's KTM rider Coma still holds the lead over Isidre Esteve Pujol with a gap of nearly 11 minutes. Casteu maintains third overall.
with the fall of De Rooy, his closest competitor, Hans Stacey extended his heavy Truck overall lead with another special stage win. The Exact-MAN crew now holds a 2h16 lead over Kamaz-Master team's new leader, Ilgizar Mardeev, who lost some 30 minutes on the stage, coming in fifth.
Stacey's Exact-MAN teammate, Philippe Jacquot, finished the stage in second place, 27 minutes behind Stacey, but is still in sixth place -- up from eighth -- behind Karel Loprais' Tatra.
Letka Racing Team's Andre De Azevedo is on the move as well; his sixth-place finish, little over four minutes behind Jacquot, was enough to move him from sixth to fourth, and he is now less than two minutes behind Ginaf Rally Power's third-placed Wulfert Van Ginkel.
