Buena Aires, Argentina (January 3, 2009) While Marc Coma’s victory was foreseeable for the first stage, the magnitude of his success and the catastrophes experienced by other bike race favorites put paid to most of the predictions. Despres and Casteu may have already seen their hopes for overall Dakar victory evaporate. In the car race, BMW met both with success, for Nasser Al Attiyah, and disappointment, with Guerlain Chicherit’s accident, after he started out of the blocks a bit too ambitiously.
Marc Coma’s methodology does not involve hesitation. He seems to have even grown in stature since the Dakar in 2007, where he was way ahead of all his pursuers in the first two decisive steps in Morocco, at Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate. On the inaugural special of this 31st edition, the Spaniard carved out a gulf between him and his rivals, confirming his unofficial status as the fastest rider in the world. Having started behind title holder Cyril Despres, the winner in 2006 already boasted the best intermediate time after 134 km of the race, 1” ahead. He used this first section to catch up with Despres, and what was to follow was a springboard to leaving him in his wake at CP 3 (after 248 km), with the race becoming a demonstration ride. On the 123 km of long straight tracks remaining, Coma showed the full extent of his power: at the finishing line at San Saladillo, he had to wait for almost half an hour before the first of his pursuers arrived. Finally, it was Jacek Czachor who came home in second position, with a gap to make up that would destabilize even the toughest of competitors: more than 22 minutes.
There is no way of really knowing whether the pitfalls at the start of this event will be fatal to overall hopes. However, the situation has never been as critical in terms of final triumph for Cyril Despres. With uncertainty hanging over his choice of tires for this year before the start, the Frenchman received some sort of confirmation on this first special stage: he crossed the line with the rims bare on his rear wheel, 41 minutes behind Coma! Others misfortune rarely lessens his own distress, but David Casteu, a serious challenger for the title, also experienced problems with his tires. Following a puncture, he was forced to turn round and head back to CP2, where one of his team-mates, Emanuel Gyenes, gave him his rear wheel. In total, he has a deficit of 1:01.53 to make up on Coma over the next 13 stages if he still hopes to win.
The day also turned out to be a catastrophe for one of the drivers involved in the struggle for the lead, because Guerlain Chicherit, having gone through CP3 with the best time of the day, lost all hope of making an impression on the stage, and probably even on the whole event, by rolling his car onto its roof after 277 km. The outcome was not as pessimistic for Dieter Depping, who also flew through the first 250 kilometers, but then experienced electronic problems with his VW Race Touareg. He finished the stage an hour behind Nasser Al Attiyah, whose victory will probably not help to console the X-Raid team. However, for the Qatari, triumphant the last time out during the UAE Desert Challenge race, it was his second success on the Dakar, after the Nema-Nema loop in 2007. Today’s showing confirms his status as an outside chance for overall victory.
Ultimately, the two biggest teams on the rally, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen, had to settle for battling for the runner-up position and other places. Former winner Hirochi Masuoka was not so lucky and ended up being towed to the finish, but Carlos Sainz was the most convincing at this game, taking second place behind Al Attiyah, followed closely by his two team-mates, Giniel De Villiers and Mark Miller. Used to pursuing, the Mitsubishi drivers lost a bit of ground on their main rivals: Alphand finished 4.44 behind the day’s winner and Peterhansel 4.54. Just behind them, Argentine Orlando Terranova once again showed how competitive the BMW X-3s are, with a 7th-placed finish on his first day on the event.
The vehicles enrolled in the T2 category are generally less exposed to such spectacular mishaps, but are on the other hand involved an intense struggle for victory. To start the rally, it was a prestigious debutant for the Dakar car race who best represented the category. The former World Rally Champion, who has already taken part behind the wheel of a truck, Micki Biasion finished in 28th place in the general standings. His closest rival in the category, Ricardo Garosci, finished in 36th place.
The truck race gave rise to its own share of surprises. Vladimir Chagin started the day on top form with the best times at the first two checkpoints. In the end, though, Marcel Van Vliet triumphed, winning the special by only 2 seconds from Gerard De Rooy. The “Tsar” only finished in 7th place, more than three minutes behind the winner.
Interviews:
Carlos Sainz (Esp – 301 – Volkswagen) - 301
The Spanish driver finished second on today’s stage, 2.17 behind winner Nasser Al Attiyah at the end of a fast and dusty special.
“After 110 km, already I was catching up with the bikes. It was difficult to overtake and rely solely on the Sentinel system, because of the dust. All I saw was dust for 250 kilometers. There was so much that I didn’t even see the Pampa…”
Nasser Al Attiyah (Qat - 302 - BMW) - 302
The Qatari driver has won the first special stage of the Dakar in 2009. Without pushing his talent to the limit, he already has a slight advantage over Carlos Sainz, and is more confident than ever about his chances for victory.
“We came here to win, so of course I’m delighted to start with a stage victory. It was a fairly easy route, but still quite fast. However, it didn’t feel like I had to push it to the limit during the race. I wanted to control my speed, especially in the part where we overtook plenty of bikes, because there was a lot of dust. It was a satisfying day, because I see that I’ve finished 2.17 in front of Carlos Sainz. This proves that the car, which is totally different from last year, with a new chassis, is performing excellently. Unfortunately, there is good news but also bad news for the team, since Guerlain Chicherit rolled his car. I hope he’ll be able to carry on - it won’t be the same without him… But that’s life on a rally-raid….
Orlando Terranova (Arg – 315 – BMW) - 315
Orlando Terranova finished in seventh place 5.09 behind Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah. He was the best placed of the South American drivers on this special stage.
“After 100 km, I caught up with Christian Lavieille, but it was almost impossible to overtake him. Around the 200 kilometer mark the dust was everywhere. There was everything to lose and nothing to gain in that sort of situation. After the clouds of dust, our bonnet started to pop up, so we decided to take it easy on the way to Santa Rosa. There were quite a few cars stopped by the side of the road. Some of them set off before us this morning. All in all, I’m very happy with this first stage”.
Marc Coma (Esp – 2 – KTM) - 002
The winner in 2006 gave a masterful showing for this first special. Benefiting from his rivals’ problems, he is already the main favorite for overall victory.
“The problem with this special was the distance. I paced myself cautiously, waiting for the moment, on an unusual stage. On this route, there was little work to do with the bike, so I tried to ride my race to avoid problems. What has happened to the others could also happen to me. I saw that Despres had problems with his back wheel after filling up at CP2. After that, I tried to open up the gap…”
Cyril Despres (Fra – 1 – KTM) - 001
The title holder suffered problems with his rear wheel, relegating him to 41’ behind his rival Marc Coma.
“The inner tube burst because I got a gash in the tire. As a result, there was no point putting a new inner tube in. If the tire is okay, you can do it, but in this case there was no way of repairing it. So there you have it. What I would have liked is to have had a quieter start to the Dakar. But this morning it was freezing and this afternoon it was too hot…”
David Casteu (Fra – 3 – KTM) - 003
Third-placed in 2007, David Casteu started this Dakar with the highest of hopes. A flat rear tire has perhaps deflated his dreams of glory.
“I’ve ridden a lot of rallies. I don’t think I deserved that. I give my all for a sport that I love… This morning, I set off with a knot in my stomach. You have to be careful, but it’s difficult to keep telling yourself, ‘attack, don’t attack, attack, don’t attack’… I felt that things were going wrong after 100 km. I just wanted to get to the refueling stop.
I should have stopped and as a result, I completely burst my tire. Once I put a new inner tube in, the tire burst it straight away. Fortunately, I’ve got good team-mates behind me, so I was able to repair the wheel. I hope they will be able to finish.
I won the Pharaohs rally with a lead of 1.30. Today, a rally-raid comes down to a matter of minutes. I lost in Tunisia, over 3,000 kilometers, just 40 seconds behind Isidre Esteve. But this time the gap is a matter of several minutes, even an hour! When you have a day like that, you just lose faith. You just lose faith, so I thought of my family, who have made a lot of sacrifices for this”.
