WHAT'S NEXT NOW?

The battle in the bikes category may have been stolen from all top pilots and might very well become a mini Catalonia Grand Prix with top pilots Marc Coma and Isidre Esteve, two blood brothers however representing two competing teams of the KTM company. The situation in the car's category: Could 2007 mean the end of an era in the hierarchy of car racing and of the uninterrupted domination of Mitsubishi since 2001? The question deserves being raised looking at the performances of the Volkswagen drivers and cars, apparently more reliable and sharper than last year in racing for final victory.

Situation in the bikes category: Everyone behind Coma

The title holder, who finished a perfect season by winning the world championship, goes on with the demonstration of his skills right here in the Dakar. The big achievement of the Ouarzazate stage, where he authoritatively took the lead in the overall rankings by winning his second special stage of the year, allowed him to put almost 30km between him and the fastest in the pack, which says a lot about the margin he has. If the lead of 10’47’’ he has over Esteve is not overly impressive in absolute terms, the impression of ease Coma is sporting must undoubtedly have a psychological influence on his competitors.

Cyril Despres, announced as his great rival in the beginning of the rally, who is more than ever a disciple of the self-persuasion method, keeps believing the situation can be overturned. The long list of mechanical problems that have been piling up since he left Portugal might be over, and his horizon might finally be clearing up. His good physical shape and the way he had started catching up in the truncated stage to Atar would actually plead his case. But his 45’ delay certainly does not. On the side of the Gauloises team, the bikers’ trio Esteve-Casteu-Despres is still there in ambush… in case of an improbable weakness of Coma…

A bit further down the ranks, the fight is between 450cc pilots. Chilean Francisco Lopez, who was in pursuit of David Frétigné in the specific ‘small’ bikes rankings, benefited from a chain of mechanical problems experienced by the French pilot from Villefranche-de-Rouergue to take the lead before the rest day. After taking the 7th position in the overall rankings at Atar, his new rival is now Helder Rodrigues, who also won the second Portuguese stage. He is a good minute behind “Chaleco” in the overall rankings.

A special word about the ladies of the female category dominated by Ludivine Puy ranking 50th in the overall rankings. Apart from competing, the ladies also – and more importantly – have a provisional track record of 100% success rate at rest day, with all six of them still in the race. The amateur rankings are led by Helder Rodrigues, whilst the privateers with no assistance rankings are now led by the Czech Martin Macek. In the quad category, Juan Manuel Gonzalez, nicknamed ’Pedrega’, is the leader of the eight quads that still remain in the race.

Situation in the car category : has the time come for VW?*

Be it Giniel De Villiers, leader of the overall rankings after finishing second the 2006 edition behind Alphand, or Carlos Sainz, who seems to be getting used to the desert in a rather fruitful year of learning, both leaders of the German squad, who also happen to lead in the overall rankings, can legitimately think about winning the Dakar indeed. So far, the track record of the Race Touareg has been free from any mistake. And if you add Carlos Sousa to the official drivers of the manufacturer, the track record is even more flattering: five stage victories out of seven, whilst the main rival, i.e. Mitsubishi has not yet found a way to get its victory teller running.

The team of last year’s winner Luc Alphand, which has four cars in the race that could all have claimed a right to victory, has ended up in Atar in a rather critical situation. Whilst both the former ski champ and the record holder of Dakar victories i.e. Stéphane Peterhansel have been delayed due to technical problems or small strategic errors, and are now respectively 24 and 33 minutes behind the South African, Masuoka is already at 1h11’ from the leader. Roma, who has lost all hopes of victory after somersaulting just 6km shy from the finish of the last special stage, is almost 7h behind. There is still a long way to go and Mitsubishi is hanging on to the fact that the most selective stages are still to come. But it does remain that statistics – although statistics they may be – are not there to reassure Alphand and his mates. Indeed, we have to go back to 1989 to find traces of a winner, i.e. Vatanen, who was not dominating the race at rest day. Even worse, the last pilot who managed to turn the situation around at mid-race and change the name of the manufacturer in the lead was called Patrick Zaniroli. It was in 1985 and he drove a Mitsubishi Pajero…

Moreover, the arbiters of the duel between Mitsu and VW have had several reversals of fortune of their own. At BMW X-Raid, new recruit Jutta Kleinschmidt, delayed by technical problems, soon understood she would not be in the top 3 this year. But the brand was still well represented by Guerlain Chicherit, 6th in the overall rankings until he somersaulted out of the track en route to Zouerat. Jean-Louis Schlesser however kept his promise and got a ‘victory and a half’ finishing just 17 seconds after Gordon in Zouerat. But his flat tires and his problem with a jack during stage 7 to Atar have compromised his great design to manage to be ahead of the manufacturers on the Dakar.

Ranking 6th, Schlesser is nevertheless in the lead of the ranking of two-wheel drive buggies just before Bernard Errandonea, 13th in the overall rankings and also the first amateur in the car ranking. On the side of production vehicles, Jun Mitsuhashi and his Toyota were in the lead in Atar. But he only has a 20 minutes lead over Ronan Chabot (TOY) in a competition where being in the top 3 will be a close call between Chabot, Ratet (TOY), Belmondo (Nissan) and Strugo (NIS) who are all ranked within an 18-minute bracket. In the solo competition, Philippe Gache is leading the race; he is ranking 30th in the overall rankings but there are only two of the single-seater buggies in the race right now out of the five he designed.

In the truck race, the favourites have prematurely left the competition and the announced duel between Kamaz and Ginaf is therefore not on the agenda anymore. Chagin gave up after a bit of a fast and violent off-track that cost him an injury, whilst the De Rooy family has to leave the race due to technical problems. Hans Stacey, the only one who could resist Chagin in 2006, is benefiting from the situation and taking the lead in the overall ranking. He will now have to keep an eye on the support drivers of Chagin and De Rooy, i.e. Mardeev, who is more than 2hours behind and Van Ginkel, who is more than 3 hours behind.

* Following a mistake in the reception of a radio message, misleading information has been published yesterday about driver Carlos Sousa (team 313). Please accept our apologies for this error.
 

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