Quad news from stage 9

DAKAR 2012 - Argentina/Chile - Stage 9  January 10th, 2012


15:16 - quad 250 - Brotherly love or sibling rivalry at CP5?

The quad race is being lit up by a rather interesting struggle with a confrontation that is the main news for the day in this category: Marcos against Alejandro Patronelli.


On starting the second zone of the special stage, the two brothers have reignited their battle. Alejandro still leads at CP5 by 44” over Marcos. At the previous check point, third placed rider Tomas Maffei trailed the Argentinean brothers by almost 40 minutes.


13:21 - quad 250 - Alejandro leads Marcos at zone 1 finish

Despite being brothers, the Patronellies are rivals nevertheless and the result at the end of zone 1 proves it again: Alejandro has come roaring back ahead of his sibling Marcos. He finished the first timed section of the day with a lead of 46 seconds.



13:16 - quad 278 - Tonetti and Maffei behind the Patronellis at CP4

Italian Roberto Tonetti is currently third at CP4 behind the Patronelli brothers. 30'37” separates him from the leader. As for Tomas Maffei, he is in fourth, 2'16” behind Tonetti.



12:27 - quad The Patronellis out in front on their own at CP4


The Argentinean brothers look likely to dominate the day again: Marcos leads, with the finish in sight, 23 seconds ahead of Alejandro. However, there is no trace of Tomas Maffei behind them. He stopped several times over the last kilometres and is now almost 20 km behind the Patronelli brothers.


11:54 - quad The lead changes hands again at CP3

Tomas Maffei, leader at CP2, is now only third: the Patronelli brothers have wrestled back the initiative at CP3. However, their lead is far from decisive at the moment: Marcos is 24” ahead of Alejandro and Maffei is only 10” behind the second-placed rider. In other words, it is a almighty battle between the Argentineans in this category.


10:16 - quad 257 - The general standings leaders out in front at CP2

The Patronelli brothers have left the initiative to Tomas Maffei on reaching CP2: with a time of 1:54'22” Maffei leads Marcos Patronelli (by 31”) and Alejandro (by 1'14”). The gaps are still close, after no less than 150 km of the special stage.



09:03 - quad The sprint has started at CP1

Now the quads have taken their turn to start the special and have reached CP1 after 12 kilometres. The first provisional results have shown that Alejandro Patronelli is quickest, with a time of 8'37”, 20 seconds ahead of Roberto Tonetti, 23” in front of Marcos Patronelli and 27” ahead of Tomas Maffei.


Ignacio Casale has lost plenty of time in the first few kilometres. It would seem that he took a wrong turn on the link stage and clocked in at the start later than his allotted starting time.



18:36 Antofagasta-Iquique: racing on the Ring of Fire

Marc Coma seizing the lead in the motorcycle classification without getting a decisive gap on his teammate Cyril Despres... The hierarchy in the car category, slowly changing while suspense runs high... A battle of titans between Iveco, Tatra and Kamaz...


And the ambitious Argentineans producing a show in the quad caravan... Without a shadow of a doubt, there is still much to be written about the 2012 Dakar. The next few days will be rich in stories of men and races. Tuesday's stage has a very short (9 km) liaison as an appetiser before a 556-kilometre-long selective sector, which will be divided into two parts separated by a neutralised section. This is the menu of the ninth stage of the 2012 Dakar, with different characteristics and backgrounds.


The first part of the stage is quite fast, with some areas of fesh-fesh, a type of fine dust resembling flour. The second special will test the navigational skills of motorcyclists and co-pilots alike, who will have to find their way with very few landmarks to help them, while accurately determining the position of the mandatory waypoints.


Their reward for this exercise in concentration will be a plunge to the shores of the Pacific down the great descent of Iqique, which already featured in the 2010 Dakar.





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