This is Dakar and the Princess revoked before the end
5th stage: Arequipa - Arica
Wednesday 9 January 2013
The connecting section: 337 km
The speed trial: 172 km
The relative late start allowed the slowest racers substitute time that they have lost before. They all move about two hours at the time due to changing time zones. In the fifth stage, which connected the two states and the contest entered the territory of the Chile, there was a distinction in the landscape.
Average speed of competitors changed too. The contestants had to weave from valley to valley. Difficult stage resulted in navigation too. But that wasn’t the problem of our crew. Our crew had a problem with The Princess 69. Electronic fault 20 km before the finish means the 8th place in overall results, slump to the 62th place in the stage and loss 1:57:53.
The pilot of our Tatra expresses to this situation: “We almost not even believe that we will get to the finish. We have been looking for a fault for a long time, because we left the battery, alternator, as well as 4x4 drive. Unfortunately, it can be crucial in the Dakar Rally. Moreover the car didn’t cool and it couldn’t start, even though we were stuck in a relative easy terrain. The car became immobile just 20 km before the finish. The only salvation for us was the another Czech, Marek Spáčil, who deserves praise and thanks. He managed to drag us to the finish even at the expense of lost his own time. Thanks to him we can still continue in the competition.”
Once again we remain the words of Karel Loprais how tricky may Dakar be and how the winning during the competition like this does not mean anything. “There may be some problems, that can be fixed, however the technical problems with electronics and electric cables are one of the worst, that could happen. We lost nearly two hours, and because of that also the winning. But the race is not lost! Mechanics are already looking for the cause of these problems and no-one ever think about the end in the competition. Well, this is Dakar. We heard the first information talking about defect, unfortunately it is only the unlucky electronics.” Answered sad Aleš Loprais behing his leaving to the bivouac.
Luckily the team is full of the fighters and because of their hard work during the night until the dawn the car is repaired and ready to continue in the race. The sixth stage is following and its 438 km long trial plus 291 km long connection 438 km long crossing section. It will be extremely difficult, especially after yesterday. Mostly the beginning and the finish of the stage command respect. Firstly there is hard rising and then falling terrain, basically as on the roller-coaster. Then there is speeding and at the end of the stage there is huge rising to almost 2,5 km above sea level.
We wish Aleš the best to his todays birthday, the Princess 69 to get wiser and Marek Spáčil huge thanks from all of us here supporting them.
6th stage: Arica - Calama
Thursday 10th January
Atacama – a longer section
Bikes/Quads
The connecting section: 331 km
The speed trial: 454 km
Cars/Trucks
The connecting section: 331 km
The speed trial: 454 km
The first special stage held in Chile will take competitors back to the Atacama Desert: they will be faced with sand and dunes for two thirds of the distance. But two specific sections of the stage will be timed: the latter will allow them to rediscover fesh fesh, which is unlikely to enthuse them. Overall, the day will be very long, at a stage where the competitors’ bodies will start to suffer from the lack of sleep, particularly for those who have experienced some incidents. At the head of the race, a ranking which is already probable is taking shape: the real candidates for the Top 10 are apparent.
