Price is right at Dakar as Peterhansel and Patronelli purr 13.01.2016: Photo caption: Stéphane Peterhansel, Toby Price, Nasser Al-Attiyah & Marcos Patronelli

Photo caption: Stéphane Peterhansel, Toby Price, Nasser Al-Attiyah & Marcos Patronelli © Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool



As sure as day follows night, the Dakar Rally’s perennial trip to the Fiambalá dunes proves a decisive factor in determining success and failure at the world’s toughest race. Legions of competitors fell by the wayside during today’s 245km timed special stage between Belén and La Rioja, but a trio of Red Bull Desert Wings stood tall to lead the car, bike and quad races at this Dakar.


The intense difficulty of today’s route was underlined when even the new car race leader Stéphane Peterhansel ran into trouble in the early part of the stage. Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret lost 15 minutes just 32km into the stage as they tracked down the day’s first waypoint.


The setback was soon behind them however as the French crew and their Peugeot 2008DKR16 powered through the rest of the stage in the day’s quickest time, a flat tyre the only other hiccup along the way.


11-time Dakar winner Peterhansel was followed home by fellow Team Peugeot-Total driver Cyril Despres as the five-time bike race victor continued his fine start to the second week of the rally. Meanwhile, this morning’s race leader Carlos Sainz endured a horrid day at the Dakar.


The Spaniard suffered a flat tyre and navigation issues before landing his Peugeot on a huge rock which impacted the spacer between gearbox and engine. This may have put pay to Sainz's ambitions of winning a second Dakar, but he'll remain in the hunt for stage wins.


The fourth Peugeot 2008DKR16, driven by nine-time WRC winner Sébastien Loeb, struck back after two testing days to go fifth-fastest on the stage. The top 5 result was achieved despite 10 minutes stuck in the sand, two punctures and a roll in the dunes after which the help of spectators was required to get the car back on its wheels.


The main benefactor of Peugeot’s problems was defending Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah. It was hardly a smooth day at the office for the Qatari, his Mini ended up on its roof after just 6km, but along with French co-driver Mathieu Baumel the duo came home with the day’s fourteenth-fastest time to move second in the overall classification.


South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers now occupies third place in the general rankings after more steady driving from the serial podium finisher.


Temperatures in the mid-40 degrees centigrade led to a mandatory cooling down break in the bike race, during which riders spent time in refrigerated trucks. If leading biker Toby Price was feeling the heat the Red Bull KTM Factory Team biker certainly didn’t let it show. The Australian rode a tactically sound second half of this marathon stage to end the day with a cushion of 23m12s from his nearest rival with three day’s racing remaining.


Price upset the status quo during his Dakar debut 12 months ago when he finished on the podium and now his team-mate Antoine Méo is threatening to do the same. The Frenchman, a five-time World Enduro champion, has excelled himself during his first experience of dune racing and now lies less than 10 minutes off third spot in the general classification.


Quad race leader Marcos Patronelli may have narrowly missed out on the stage win by 29 seconds, but the Argentine was still able to increase his lead at the front of the race by nearly a minute from his brother and fellow two-time Dakar winner Alejandro.


The feeling inside Team Kamaz Master was that the time had come to go on the attack if they were to reel in truck race leader Gerard de Rooy. At the start of the stage Kamaz’s Eduard Nikolaev was around 30 minutes behind the Dutchman in the overall standings, but midway through today’s racing the Russian had reduced the arrears to under 15 minutes.


Nikolaev’s extreme pace was to land him in trouble though as his truck fell onto its side after hitting an obstacle on the stage. Following Nikolaev's misfortune it's now his Kamaz team-mate Ayrat Mardeev who sits second overall behind de Rooy.


With so many competitors and machines coming back battered and bruised to the bivouac in La Rioja it’s looking like a long night for mechanics. With plenty more sand on the menu tomorrow during the 431km timed route to San Juan there’s still lashings of drama left to play out at the 2016 Dakar Rally.
 



2016 Dakar Rally Stage Ten Results

CARS

1. Stéphane Peterhansel   (FRA)   03:58:32
2. Cyril Despres   (FRA)   +00:05:40
3. Vladimir Vasilyev   (RUS)   +00:12:56
4. Nani Roma   (ESP)   +00:14:33
5. Sébastien Loeb   (FRA)   +00:17:40
6. Giniel de Villiers   (ZAF)   +00:26:16
13. Marek Dabrowski   (POL)   +00:43:35
14. Nasser Al-Attiyah   (QAT)   +00:52:25
25. Kuba Przygonski   (POL)   +02:04:08
35. Carlos Sainz   (ESP)   +06:03:03


BIKES

1. Stefan Svitko   (SVK)   04:02:23
2. Kevin Benavides   (ARG)   +00:02:54
3. Toby Price   (AUS)   +00:05:47
4. Paulo Gonçalves   (POR)   +00:06:01
5. Antoine Méo   (FRA)   +00:07:43
7. Hélder Rodrigues   (PRT)   +00:12:01
18. Jordi Viladoms   (ESP)   +00:47:16
29. Iván Cervantes   (ESP)   +01:14:23


TRUCK

1. Pascal de Baar   (NLD)   04:51:41
2. Gerard de Rooy   (NLD)   +00:02:36
3. Ayrat Mardeev   (RUS)   +00:26:06
4. Hans Stacey   (NLD)   +00:27:25
5. Artur Ardavichus   (KAZ)   +00:31:29
7. Dmitry Sotnikov   (RUS)   +00:46:02
15. Eduard Nikolaev   (RUS)   +03:30:44
16. Andrey Karginov   (RUS)   +03:36:36


QUADS

1. Brian Baragwanath   (ZAF)   04:53:30
2. Marcos Patronelli   (ARG)   +00:00:29
3. Alejandro Patronelli   (ARG)   +00:01:17
4. Sergei Kariakin   (RUS)    +00:17:42
5. Lucas Bonetto   (ARG)   +00:21:53



2016 Dakar Rally Overall Standings


CARS

1. Stéphane Peterhansel   (FRA)   32:44:59
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah   (QAT)   +01:00:00
3. Giniel de Villiers   (ZAF)   +01:12:31
4. Mikko Hirvonen   (FIN)    +01:23:51
5. Leeroy Polter   (ZAF)   +01:33:58
6. Cyril Despres   (FRA)   +01:50:07
9. Sébastien Loeb   (FRA)   +02:27:31
17. Kuba Przygonski   (POL)   +05:21:07
19. Carlos Sainz   (ESP)   +05:56:00
32. Marek Dabrowski   (POL)   +14:11:37



BIKE

1. Toby Price   (AUS)   34:49:04
2. Stefan Svitko   (SVK)   +00:23:12
3. Paulo Gonçalves   (POR)   +00:34:15
4. Pablo Quintanilla   (CHL)   +00:42:49
5. Antoine Méo   (FRA)   +00:44:04
7. Hélder Rodrigues   (PRT)   +00:56:17
19. Iván Cervantes   (ESP)   +03:58:57
23. Jordi Viladoms   (ESP)   +04:45:45



TRUCKS

1. Gerard de Rooy   (NLD)   33:25:03
2. Ayrat Mardeev   (RUS)   +01:15:19
3. Federico Villagra   (ARG)   +01:32:47
4. Hans Stacey   (NLD)   +01:48:57
5. Ton van Genugten   (NLD)   +02:16:55
9. Eduard Nikolaev   (RUS)   +03:55:20
11. Dmitry Sotnikov   (RUS)   +04:26:57
14. Andrey Karginov   (RUS)   +05:15:31



QUADS

1. Marcos Patronelli   (ARG)   43:23:21
2. Alejandro Patronelli   (ARG)   +00:01:32
3. Jeremias Gonzalez   (ARG)   +01:34:54
4. Sergei Kariakin   (RUS)    +01:35:49
5. Brian Baragwanath   (ZAF)   +01:41:38

 



Quotes


Stéphane Peterhansel #302: “We had a terrible start to the special. We got lost at 32km and wandered around for at least 15 minutes. I blew a fuse because I thought I'd lost everything. We took risks and threw caution to the wind. We pushed very hard because we knew today was the decisive stage.


It was a stage with very tricky navigation, off-track sections, drainage channels... Everything that makes rally raid hard. As usual, this is where you see huge gaps. I had a flat tyre and started screaming my head off, I was a bit out of my mind today. However, when we got going, we were fast. We took a huge leap in the overall.


It's also good to know we've got Cyril (Despres) right behind us to give us a hand. He's helping us out even though he wasn't supposed to do that at the start, it's awesome.”


Cyril Despres #321: “We navigated properly. David did a great job right from the start. We still don't have the super-high pace we need to fight for the front places. We lost a few minutes, but it's no big deal, it's a good deal both for Stéphane (Peterhansel) and me. Apart from Carlos, who got stuck in a riverbed with big pebbles...


I got to see what the rhythm was, I felt it was easier for me to drive the Peugeot 2008 today than my bike in the same place two years ago. I've got to continue learning, it's important for Peugeot and me. It would be silly to blow a fuse. David navigated well this morning, there were cars, motorcycles and trucks everywhere. We got to CP1, and we wanted to make sure Carlos (Sainz) and Stéphane were ahead.


We stopped, we opened the door and got stuck for four minutes after we got going. This is how you learn. I won the Dakar five times on a bike, I took my time to learn before fighting for victory, and I want to do the same thing with my car. I don't want to get carried away. We saw Carlos on a riverbed with big pebbles...


It scares your trousers of because you see we're all on the brink. I'm not sure I could avoid all the pitfalls if I pushed harder.”


Nasser Al-Attiyah #300: “We did a barrel roll after we hit an embankment 10km into the special, and it took us a while to put the car back upright. We had to take risks today... After that things got tricky because the car was damaged and we had to finish the stage without further problems.


At the end of the day, I'm happy to make it to the finish. The ceiling and the cooling system were broken, and we had to stop several times to check whether everything was in order. Despite the adversities, we limited our losses to Giniel (de Villiers) and Mikko (Hirvonen). We're second overall, and now we have to try and defend this position.”


Toby Price #3: “It was a key stage. I took it easy because my motorcycle struggled in the heat yesterday. I also focused on navigating. Two chaps came from behind and caught up with me, but I can't complain, it was a good stage. I can ride a bit more defensively now, no need to attack to gain time like I did yesterday.


 I've got some margin, but no guarantee. Anything can happen, I've got to continue working. I must avoid any mistakes or missing waypoints. What's important is to be in good shape and ready to kick it up a notch if necessary.”


Hélder Rodrigues #7: "Today was one of the most difficult stages for me but also one of the most enjoyable: it was really Dakar! And although some people say that from here it will get easier, I’m not so sure: tomorrow’s stage looks quite complex too.


 I had no problems today, but yesterday I crashed and I’m in quite a lot of pain from my shoulder. I feel it all the time, but when you are riding you just put the pain to the back of your mind and carry on. Now we go to the finish and keep fighting."



Christina Gaither-