X-Raid’s Peterhansel up to eight after setting fastest time into Iquique

Team X-raid GmbH’s Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret bounced back from their fifth stage disappointment to claim outright victory and eighth overall on the 418km special stage of the Dakar Rally between Antofagasta and Iquique in Chile on Thursday. The Frenchman’s 20th Dakar stage victory in a car (53rd in total) capped an excellent day in the Atacama desert for the Trebur-based team of three surviving BMW X3 CCs. Russia’s Leonid Novitskiy and German co-driver Andreas Schulz set the fifth fastest time to move up from 14th to 10th overall. Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit and Swedish co-driver Tina Thõrner recovered from early stage delays to set the eighth quickest time and they hold seventh, giving team director Sven Quandt three cars inside the overall top 10 of the world’s most famous rally after six days.
Peterhansel had dropped to 10th in the overall standings at the start of the sixth stage into Iquique after Wednesday’s transmission woes but, despite setting the 33rd fastest time on stage five, he was permitted to start stage six from 14th position on safety grounds. Only 250 of the original 362 entrants, including 82 of the 134 cars that crossed the start line in Buenos Aires on New Year’s Day, began the stage. Peterhansel shadowed BJ “Ballistic” Baldwin through the first 68km, with Novitskiy lying in fifth position. Chicherit was delayed and dropped 16 minutes to the leading Hummer.
Peterhansel had taken the lead by the 153km checkpoint and extended that on-stage advantage over Sainz to 2m 19s through 195km, where rockier terrain gave way to sandier conditions. Novitskiy held fifth and Chicherit had climbed back from earlier delays and was running as the 15th fastest driver on the stage.
The flying Frenchman maintained his lead through the checks at 252km, 292km and 359km and eventually finished the timed section 47 seconds in front of Carlos Sainz, who extended his lead to 15m 24s lead in the overall classification. Peterhansel overtook 11 cars during his superb stage performance.

2010 Dakar Rally – positions on SS6 (unofficial @ 16.05 hrs):

• 1. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) BMW X3 CC 4h 23m 55s
• 2. Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Volkswagen Race Touareg 4h 24m 42s
• 3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 4h 32m 50s
• 4. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg 4h 35m 29s
• 5. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Andreas Schulz (D) BMW X3 CC 4h 41m 27s
• 6. Nicolas Misslin (F)/Jean-Michel Polato (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 4h 42m 19s
• 7. Carlos Sousa (P)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 4h 45m 24s
• 8. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 4h 48m 43s

2010 Dakar Rally – overall positions after SS6 (unofficial @ 16.05 hrs):

• 1. Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Volkswagen Race Touareg 20h 35m 53s
• 2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Timo Gottschalk (D) Volkswagen Race Touareg 20h 50m 57s
• 3. Mark Miller (USA)/Ralph Pitchford (ZA) Volkswagen Race Touareg 20h 53m 20s
• 4. Carlos Sousa (P)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 22h 09m 37s
• 5. Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Jean-Marc Fortin (B) Nissan Overdrive 22h 19m 13s
• 6. Robbie Gordon (USA)/Andy Grider (USA) Hummer 22h 23m 58s
• 7. Guerlain Chicherit (F)/Tina Thörner (S) BMW X3 CC 22h 27m 15s
• 8. Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) BMW X3 CC 22h 39m 35s
• 9. Guilherme Spinelli (BR)/Filipe Palmeiro (P) Mitsubishi Racing Lancer 22h 47m 51s
• 10. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS)/Andreas Schulz (D) BMW X3 CC 23h 45m 51s

Tomorrow (Friday) the route turns south from Iquique towards Antofagasta for the last stage before Saturday’s rest day. A short 37km liaison section guides crews to the start of the longest special stage of the entire rally – a daunting 600km competitive challenge, which finishes a mere four kilometers from the coastal city. The stage features seven passage controls and two refueling points for the bikes.

Event officials reckon that this will be the most varied special of the entire Dakar, featuring sand dunes, an unusual area called the salar (crystallized salt blocks) – where speeds may drop as low as 10km/h – and faster and rockier sections to the finish. The rulebook permits competitors to reach the rest day by 18.00hrs the following day – such is the potential severity of the stage.

Press Release Team X-raid GmbH – Puro Off Road is registered news user with Team X-raid GmbH

Related posts:

1. X-raid Chicherit and Peterhansel moved up to fourth and fifth
2. Peterhansel and Chicherit maintained 4th and 5th positions
3. Peterhansel lost crucial minutes on closing kilometers
4. Disappointing fifth stage for Stephane Peterhansel
5. X-raid second and sixth fastest times on demanding stage

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