Cars news from stage 5 05.01.2012: DAKAR 2012 - Argentina/Chile - stage 5 January 5th, 2012 15:23 - car 310 - Spinelli in trouble...

DAKAR 2012 - Argentina/Chile - stage 5  January 5th, 2012



15:23 - car 310 - Spinelli in trouble...

Brazilian Guilherme Spinelli ground to a halt in the special after 95 kilometres and has been carrying out repairs for a good part of an hour. Mitsubishi No. 310 was at a standstill for fifteen minutes in the morning in the dunes near Taton before resuming racing and then stopping again in its current position.


13:33 - car 300 - Nasser finally finishes!

Al-Attiyah reached the finishing line just a few minutes ago, no less than 24 minutes later than the best time of the day achieved by Polish driver Holowczyc in his Mini.

The Qatari had driven a superb special stage, leading proceedings almost from start to finish, before having to stop to repair problems that occurred on the last part of the stage.



13:27 - car 300 - News on Al-Attiyah...

Apparently the reason for Nasser Al-Attiyah's long halt several hundred metres after CP2 of the car special is due to a cooling problem.

The radiator appears to have lost its liquid, leading to overheating and an automatic cut-off of the Hummer. With the time taken to carry out repairs and refill the coolant tank, more than 20 minutes have been lost by the Qatari.


11:55 - car Clarifications at CP1...

Around thirty car category competitors have reached CP1 of today's special, giving a better picture of how the race is shaping up: behind Al-Attiyah, Holowczyc, Gordon and Peterhansel, Russia's Novitskiy is fifth, 4'27” behind the stage leader, ahead of Giniel de Villiers, 4'30” behind, Ricardo Leal Dos Santos, 4'31” behind, Nani Roma, 4'51” behind and Carlos Sousa, 5'43” behind.




13:01 - car 303 - Gordon sandwiched between the Minis

American Robby Gordon has just finished his day in second place on the special stage, 1'01” behind the best time achieved by Holowczyc, who still leads the Minis.


The Hummers have once again been impressive today, systematically placing themselves amongst the quickest cars, until the problems encountered by Nasser Al-Attiyah who has been at a standstill on the special for more than 25 minutes at the time of writing.



12:48 - car 304 - A provisional hat-trick for the Minis!

Krzysztof Holowczyc has been the quickest of the drivers to finish on completion of this fifth special on the Dakar 2012.

Stephane Peterhansel is second, 3'52” behind the Polish driver, and leads his team-mate Nani Roma by 7'47”. We are awaiting the arrival of Robby Gordon, because it seems that Nasser Al-Attiyah is still at a halt on the special stage at present...



12:45 - car 300 - Al-Attiyah stops after CP2!

The Qatari is not having a simple time on the rally this year. Hummer No. 300 has been at a standstill for several minutes a few hundred metres after CP2 at the 155-km point. Al-Attiyah had just achieved the best intermediate time in the car category.



12:35 - car The Hummers still lead at CP2

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Robby Gordon were the quickest drivers to reach CP2 after 155 kilometres of the day's special. With a total time of 1:45'47”, the winner of the Dakar 2011 is holding out against his rivals and currently leads Robby Gordon by 3'38”.


11:27 - car 300 - The Hummers aren't giving up...

Nasser Al-Attiyah is still as combative as ever, in spite of the various mishaps that have slowed him down over the last few days. He has just reached CP1 as stage leader, 1'39” ahead of Krzysztof Holowczyc. Robby Gordon is third, 2'12” behind his team-mate.



11:24 - car 301 - De Villiers back on track

Giniel De Villiers has resumed the special after coming to a standstill after 76 km of the special in a zone of dunes. He has lost ten minutes on the race leader.


11:22 - car 301 - De Villiers stops after 76 km...

The Toyota Hilux driven by the South African has been at a standstill since 11.04 AM in the dunes at Taton to the east of Fiambalá.




11:01 - car 304 - Holowczyc quickest at CP1

At CP1 on the car special on the fifth day of the rally, Poland's Holowczyc has achieved the best time of 33'52” with a lead of 58” over Stephane Peterhansel, 2'51” over Giniel De Villiers and 3'12” over Nani Roma.




10:45 - car 308 - Terranova absent from the start

The Argentinean's Toyota was not amongst the starters this morning. Orlando Terranova has given his tracking equipment back to the organisers and seems to have withdrawn from the race. For the moment, no explanation has been given for this decision.



10:18 - car 302 - The cars get to grips with the special

Stephane Peterhansel started the cars' special at 10.15 AM as scheduled, with 153 km ahead of him including the dunes around Fiambalá.

138 cars are on today's list of starters. Following Peterhansel, the Toyotas of Terranova and De Villiers as well as Holowczyc and his Mini will be the ones to watch...




08:54 Modifications to the day's stage...

The heavy rainfall that has affected the province of Catamarca since yesterday has led to several modifications in to the day's proceedings for the Chilecito-Fiambalà stage.

The initial consequence is a 30-minute delay to the start of the bikes' special, which should now start at 9.00 AM local time. The route may undergo further adjustments depending on the findings of scouts sent out to check the tracks.



07:11 - car Modification of the car/truck route

Due to the heavy rain that fell on the provinces of La Rioja and Catamarca, the start of the stage for cars and trucks has been moved to the 24 km point, shortening the stage by this distance.

As a result, the cars will set off on the link stage 30 minutes later. The first car, driven by Stephane Peterhansel, yesterday's winner and new leader of the general standings, left Chilecito at 6.45 AM local time. A total of 138 cars feature on the list of starters.



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