Dakar 2009 remains increasingly tough, stage 5 shortened due to bad weather

January 8, 2008 - Stage of Dakar 2009 should have been the key one for the development of the race, rightly so but the end of the stage was eventually affected by different factors.

The special from Neuquen to San Rafael was 505 kilometers long and offered a varied mixture of fast and technical tracks, oueds and finally at the end a 20-kilometer dune field, which took its own role in the development of the stage. Only temporarily. At 7 p.m. when the press car and the assistance of Loprais Tatra Team reached the bivouac the bivouac was almost empty, only assistance teams were still awaiting their racing crews. The service zones were astonishingly calm.

Ales Loprais entered the stage at full pace but at km 220 the broken radiator caused another leak of water again. "There was no choice but to get new water from local sources. We added perhaps 80 liters but it was not enough. We lost another two hours but I feel the situation requires a complex solution," Ales Loprais said after the finish of the stage, "The final dune field might have been too harsh but we liked it. Milan Holan deflated tires down to 0.9 bars and Tatra flied over the dunes. Some wild situations trapped Duisters or Van Ginkel, Actually, for the whole rally we have not been passed by a truck, only when we had to stop. The speed is great, we only need trouble-free stages to get back into the race."

At the end of the stage at the briefing, race director Etienne Lavigne announced the neutralization of the stage from CP2 due to bad weather. The Andes let us know of their presence and sent a mountain storm, at which crossing the dunes would be too dangerous. "I do not like this although it erases part of my today's loss. They sent us to the most dangerous section and then neutralize it for the others. We could have buried the whole truck in the dunes. If they used the same methodology in stage 2 we could have erased most of our total time losses," Ales said.

At the creation of this report, official stage results are not known yet. What matters the most is the headache of navigator Vojta Stajf (currently helped by a therapist of the MAN team) and the final solution regarding the radiator. Desert stages will require perfect cooling of the engine. No time for the mechanics to get bored over night.

Weather has show the entire Dakar its new version. The Andes have sent their first mountain storm. The special to Mendoza i shortened to CP2 and there is a water crossing at km 184. The organizers are closely watching the level of water to make sure it can be crossed after all the rains.