Last news from stage 9

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



18:08 - bike 014 - An end to a nightmare day for Casteu

The rider from the French Riviera crossed the finishing line at 5.57 PM local time, bringing to a close a day that will have put his nerves to the utmost test. David Casteu broke down on the special and lost more than three hours to the leaders. In the general standings he has now dropped down to twenty-third place, 4:25'52” from the leader.


18:05 - truck 511 - Biasion wins in the truck race

Iveco have scored a hat-trick at the end of this special: Italian Miki Biasion adds a second victory to the roll of honour for the Dakar 2012 ahead of Hans Stacey (20” behind) and Gerard De Rooy (54” behind).


In the general standings, De Rooy now has a lead of 47'32” over his nearest pursuer: his team-mate Stacey. Artur Ardavichus (fourth today 8'54” behind) has now driven his Kamaz into third place after the withdrawal of Ales Loprais. He trails De Rooy by 1:06'40”.



17:36 - truck 501 - Loprais exits the race…

The Czech driver of Tatra No. 501 and his co-pilots suffered an accident after crashing at the 374-km point of the special. The news about the crew are reassuring, however.

The three men were taken by helicopter to the bivouac and are suffering from several bruises. This accident would seem to mean that it is all over for the competitor who was battling for a place on the podium in the truck category.



17:17 - quad 257 - Maffei finishes

Far behind his countrymen, the Patronelli brothers, Tomas Maffei has just completed the day's special...at last. He has lost no less than 44'07” on a day when he stopped several times during the special stage.


17:14 - car Leal Dos Santos finishes fifth

Behind the four leading cars, Portuguese driver Ricardo Leal Dos Santos has finished in fifth position, 15'23” behind the day's winner, American Robby Gordon.


Giniel de Villiers at the wheel of his Toyota Hilux is in sixth, 18'03” behind. With his Great Wall prepared by SMG, Carlos Sousa finished 22'36” behind, Vos Duncan 22'51” behind and Russian Leonid Novitskiy 23'25” behind.


In the general standings, behind Peterhansel, Gordon, Holowczyc and Roma, De Villiers has moved in to fifth position, 54'10” behind the leader.



16:57 - truck 502 - Three Ivecos in front at CP5

With the finishing line coming closer, at around 80 kilometres from the end of this special, the three Iveco drivers are in the lead. Gerard De Rooy is the unquestionable leader in the category, 7'06” ahead of his team-mate Miki Biasion and 8'19” in front of his countryman Hans Stacey. Artur Ardavichus lies in fourth place, 14'36” behind.



16:54 - quad 250 - One Patronelli can hide another...

If you look for one, the other is never far away... The same was true again this Tuesday, on completion of the special that brought the competitors to Iquique. Alejandro traced the route, but Marcos remained in touching distance. At the finishing line, only 1'02” separated the two Argentineans who reign supreme over the quad category.


They will most likely be coming together in the general standings, since Tomas Maffei, who occupied second place yesterday, lost plenty of time today, trailing by more than 40 minutes at the last intermediate check point. Alejandro now leads the general standings by 1:19'59” over his brother Marcos.



16:41 - car 305 - Roma on the podium

Behind Robby Gordon and Stephane Peterhansel, Spaniard Nani Roma has taken third place on the ninth special of the Dakar 2012. Roma finished 8'37” behind the day's winner.


The fourth placed driver, Krzysztof Holowczic, came in 10'39” behind the American. In the general standings, the two men are in reverse order: the Polish driver is third, 16'49” behind the leader and the Spaniard is fourth, 19'26” behind the leader.



16:29 - car 303 - Gordon wins!

American Robby Gordon has given another victory to the Hummer team with a total time of 6:25'21” today. He beat Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel by 1'38”. In the general standings, Peterhansel still has a lead of 5'58” over Gordon.


16:20 - quad 257 - The Patronellis on another planet

The third placed quad, ridden by Tomas Maffei, arrived at the finish of zone 1 on the day's special almost 43 minutes behind the Patronelli brothers. Italian Roberto Tonetti is fourth, 5'38” behind Maffei and Sergio La Fuente in fifth place trails the Argentinean by 6'37”.



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