The Dakar is a race for travellers. This year, it is readying itself to discover a 27th country, at the end of a fourth South American adventure that will take the riders and drivers to Lima, the capital of Peru, after having returned to the Argentinean and Chilean landscapes. The crossing of the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific appeals massively to rally-raid lovers who come to enjoy the thrills of the competition and wide open spaces. This year, 465 vehicles are expected at Mar del Plata for the start of the race, an increase of almost 15 % in comparison to the 2011 edition.

Sand and dunes will be on the menu in the three host countries of the Dakar 2012. However, between the ones in Fiambala leading up to the crossing of the Andes Mountains, the amazingly large ones of the Atacama Desert, or those in Peru which stretch out in long rows, their variation and the reoccurrence of difficulty they provide along the route means it is a fool’s game to try and predict just how the race will unfold. Furthermore, the numbers in the field have become denser, making predictions more and more random, starting in the two-wheeled category. Whilst Marc Coma and Cyril Despres are neck and neck with three victories each, it is by no means a sure thing that one of them will take a lead this year on the rally’s roll of honour. Among the serious rivals who can already boast podium finishes are Helder Rodrigues and David Casteu riding for Yamaha, as well as Francisco Lopez (Aprilia) or Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (KTM). However, in light of their promising performances, Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves (Husqvarna) or even American Quinn Cody, best “rookie” in 2011 (9th, Honda) can also be granted the rank of pretender. What’s more, all eyes will probably also be on a handful of first-class newcomers, such as Brazilian Felipe Zanol (2nd behind Despres in the Sertoes International Rally), two times endurance world champion Johnny Aubert, or four times Bol d’Or winner Matt Lagrive.

The reshuffling of cards expected in the car category could also give rise to an intense battle. It will already be raging within the ranks of the X-Raid team, which will be racing five Minis, driven by two former rally winners, Stephane Peterhansel and Nani Roma (who triumphed on a bike), as well as the rising start of the discipline Krzysztof Holowczyc, victorious this summer on the Silk Way Rally. But the new context could also allow Robby Gordon to make a mark again, after a podium finish in 2009 behind the wheel of his Hummer. This is also a goal that Giniel De Villiers can legitimately hold: the winner of the first South American Dakar will be driving a Toyota Pick-up designed by Overdrive that could make a triumphant debut in the event. The state of the competition is also whetting the appetite of outsiders such as Christian Lavieille for Dessoude, Mathias Kahle behind the wheel of an SMG buggy, or the comeback kid Carlos Sousa, enlisted by Chinese constructor Great Wall.

In the quad category, the Patronelli brothers seem obliged to provide an excellent performance. The Argentine spectators, won over by the family saga that has witnessed the victories of Marcos in 2010, then Alejandro in 2011, will only content themselves with the best. However, on the tracks the duo will have to deal with Czech rider Josef Machacek, who picked up the last of his five titles in 2009, as well as a Polish onslaught that has been gathering strength for the last few years in the form of Rafal Sonik and Lukasz Laskawiec.

2012 will unavoidably be a turning point for the Kamaz team, since its star Chagin has left the cab to take on a role in managing the team. An air of youthfulness has been given to the team with Eduard Nikolaev and Ayrat Mardeev, son of Ilgizar, who both have the talent and machines capable of prolonging the Russian domination. That said, their failure at home in July in the SWR, along with the victory of Ales Loprais, allows the Czech driver to nourish hopes of triumph. The De Rooy team also has high hopes, with the return to the tracks of Gerard, but also the presence of Hans Stacey, the last driver to have beaten Kamaz on the Dakar, in 2007. Furthermore, the Veka team does not intend to be a mere spectator of this struggle, with Frantz Echter ready to get stuck in.
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SOURCE: http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html

The world famous race, moved from west Africa to South America over security concerns, was won by Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday. The race ended officially in Buenos Aires on Sunday.

French race director Etienne Lavigne hinted the race could be opened to more countries in South America.

“Every year we try to build on a new idea. We’re thinking it could be good to open the race to other countries while including Chile and Argentina,” Lavigne said after being asked if next year’s race might end in Lima instead of Buenos Aires.

But the Frenchman said decisions would be taken from March and “everything depends on the authorities in those countries.”

The prize giving at the Obelisk in central Buenos Aires was brought forward over warnings of an impending storm in the Argentine capital on Sunday afternoon and relatively few spectators showed up.

The other winners at the end of the gruelling 16-day race were Marc Coma on motorbikes, Argentine Alejandro Patronelli on quads and Russian Vladimir Chagin in trucks.

“Now the world will know where Qatar is,” said Al-Attiyah, draped in Qatari and Argentine flags, possibly forgetting his country only last month won the right to stage football’s World Cup in 2022.

“I’m happy with Argentines’ support and I thank them,” he said while his Volkswagen team mate, Spanish former world rally champion Carlos Sainz, had to settle for third place having won the race last year and despite winning seven stages this year.

Fellow Spaniard Coma, winning his third Dakar motorbike title, said: “I was never able to relax because one stage finished and another harder one followed. The Dakar is very tough but this victory is the prize for all our work.”

The best sceneries of the 2011 Dakar Rally Argentina-Chile:

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SOURCE:
“Dakar – Dakar could expand horizons”
Mon, 17 Jan
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/17012011/58/dakar-dakar-expand-horizons.html

Al-Attiyah hit the front of the legendary event when long-time leader Sainz lost a lot of ground in sand dunes on stage eight earlier this week. Sainz tried to fight back only to suffer even worse delays with various damaged components on stages 10 and 11, pushing him back to third in an all-VW podium behind Giniel de Villiers.

Second place on today’s final 181-kilometre blast back to Buenos Aires gave Al-Attiyah a final winning margin of nearly 50 minutes over de Villiers, who was in turn half an hour clear of Sainz.

X-Raid BMW driver Stephane Peterhansel had been in thick of a three-way battle with Sainz and Al-Attiyah during the first week of the event, before a series of punctures saw him lose touch with the lead fight, and eventually fall right back to finish in fourth place.

His team-mate Krzysztof Holowczyc completed the final top five, ahead of VW’s fourth works driver Mark Miller, as the leading drivers cruised to the finish without incident.
_________________________________
SOURCE:
“Al-Attiyah claims first Dakar win”
By Matt Beer
Saturday, January 15th 2011
http://www.autosport.com
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88946

The Spaniard completed the 13th round and final part in 1 hour, 27mins and 23 seconds, achieving a final time of 51 hours and 25 minutes. This way, Como, winner of 2006 and 2009 races, brought himself back in the fourth hour against Després, who won 2010 contest.
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SOURCE:
“Marc Coma takes back Dakar crown in motorbikes”
15-Jan-2011
http://www.buenosairesherald.com
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/56384/marc-coma-takes-back-dakar-crown-in-motorbikes

The 48-year-old overtook race legend Stephane Peterhansel for overall victories as he claimed his sixth in the 33rd edition of the endurance event, but he trails Volkswagen teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah by more than an hour ahead of the final leg going into Buenos Aires.

Sainz’s challenge came unstuck on Thursday when he suffered a broken suspension in the 11th leg between Chilecito and San Juan in Argentina, allowing teammate Ginier De Villiers to move up into second overall.

The South African was second in Friday’s penultimate stage ahead of Al-Attiyah, but is almost 50 minutes behind the Qatari — who is almost assured his maiden victory at the event after finishing runner-up last year.

“It really was the hardest stage of my life, because I had to keep concentrated and not make any mistakes,” the 40-year-old Al-Attiyah told the race’s website.

“Sometimes I was going fast, sometimes slow, because I needed to keep my concentration and keep the same pace, but it was okay. We finished the stage without any problems and I’m really quite happy.”

Spain’s Marc Coma is similarly in pole position to clinch a third title in the motorbike category after winning his fourth stage this year by 37 seconds from defending champion Cyril Depres.

Coma has an overall advantage of more than 16 minutes from the Frenchman, who is also riding for the KTM team.

“Today was complicated due to all the rain that fell last night. As a result, it was a very technical stage, like in endurance racing. But it went fine,” Coma told the race’s website.

“There is still a 190-kilometer stage left to race tomorrow. Normally, there shouldn’t be any complications, but we still need to race them, it’s there to be done.”

Defending truck champion Vladimir Chagin is on course for his seventh title after claiming his sixth stage win, leaving him more than 31 minutes ahead of fellow Russian and Kamaz-Master teammate Firdaus Kabirov.

In the quad bikes, last year’s runner-up Alejandro Patronelli is poised for his maiden triumph as he holds an even bigger lead ahead over fellow Argentine Sebastian Halpern, one of his Yamaha teammates.

Halpern was second on Friday, while Patronelli was back in fourth eight minutes adrift.

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SOURCE:
“Sainz sets record as Dakar Rally prepares for new car champion”
January 14, 2011
http://edition.cnn.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/motorsport/01/14/dakar.rally.attiyah.sainz/

Qatari Al-Attiyah began Thursday’s 11th stage more than 12 minutes ahead of the Spaniard, and it was predicted defending champion Sainz would make up some ground on the leader as the quality of the roads improved.

But Sainz was forced to stop for over an hour when a pot-hole ripped his front right wheel off 412km into the 622km special stage, and al-Attiyah took full advantage.

The Volkswagen driver finished the stage 1 minute and 13 seconds ahead of Stephane Peterhansel in his BMW, with South African Giniel de Villiers a further 3:39 back in third place.

The win helped Al-Attiyah open up a 52:49 gap on second-placed de Villiers in the overall car standings, with Sainz one hour and 27 minutes behind in third and Peterhansel 1:40.45 behind in fourth.

Nine-time winner Peterhansel said Sainz’s problems had taken the pressure off al-Attiyah at the top of the leaderboard, but sympathised with the Spaniard.

“Carlos’s problems will allow Nasser to have a much more comfortable last two days. Carlos already lost the Dakar two days from the finish two years ago,” the Frenchman said.

“We know that it is always complicated to win the Dakar and he’s seen just how much this time.”

“As for us, there isn’t much left to be gained by going out to attack. We’re in fourth and third place is too far away. It would be a shame to end up having an accident.”

In the motorbikes section, Frenchman Cyril Despres trimmed overall leader Marc Coma’s lead to 15:59 by winning stage 11 by 2:11 from the Spaniard.

Chile’s Francisco Lopez Contardo finished third in the stage and is also in third place overall, 49:24 behind Coma.

However, the day was marred the death of a local man whose small truck was hit by a competing car early on Thursday morning.

At around 6am local time on Thursday, Argentine driver Eduardo Amor was completing the 10th stage of the event, which most of the frontrunners finished on Wednesday, when he collided with a vehicle driven by a 42-year-old man, who later died.

Deaths occur often in the Dakar Rally, and last year a female spectator was hit and killed by a competing car.

The event, which began on New Year’s Day, is scheduled to finish on Sunday in Buenos Aires.
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SOURCE:
“Al-Attiyah closing in on Dakar victory”
14/01/2011
http://www.sportal.com.au
http://www.sportal.com.au/motorsport-news-display/al-attiyah-closing-in-on-dakar-victory-108061

The stage crossed a 13,000-foot pass in the Andes, with Coma winning the bikes category in 3 hours, 6 minutes, 35 seconds.

The Spaniard won in 2009 and leads Cyril Despres of France in the overall standings by 18:10.

Al-Attiyah finished fourth Wednesday, 8:54 behind winner Giniel de Villiers of South Africa. The driver from Qatar has an overall lead of 18:13 on defending champion Carlos Sainz of Spain.
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SOURCE:
“Coma, Al-Attiyah build hefty leads in Dakar Rally”
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011203774.html

In quads, the Argentine Alejandro Patronelli arrived first, winning only by 5 minutes 21 seconds against the second, the Czech Machacek. The Polish Laskawiec is at 10 minutes 15 seconds below the Argentine.

Sebastian Halpern and Jorge Santamarina, also Argentine, ended fourth and fifth respectively.

In the overall, Patronelli continues as the leader with 1 hour 16 minutes 23 seconds over Halpern and 2 hours 47 minutes 9 seconds ahead of Machacek.

In cars, the Spanish driver Carlos Sainz won. He imposed on Tuesday and the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah ended second, but held the lead in the overall despite the result.

Sainz did a time of 2 hours 14 minutes and 39 seconds, beating Al-Attiyah by 1 minute 56 seconds.

Third was the South African Giniel de Villiers, at 9 minutes 2 seconds behind the stage leader.

After nine stages Al-Attiyah is at the top, followed by Sainz, who is below only by 3 minutes 18 seconds.

The surprise came on motorcycles, in which neither Despres and Coma or Lopez arrived at the front. The American Jonah Street won with a time of 3 hours 6 minutes and 56 seconds, beating by 3 minutes 38 seconds to Belgian Verhoeven and the French Casteau for 3 minutes 40 seconds.

Despres, defending champion finished seventh in at 6 minutes 3 seconds behind the winner, while Coma finished ninth at 7 minutes 8 seconds.

Lopez arrived 7 minutes 53 seconds behind the winner of the day.

After the stage, Coma still leads the overall standings, while Despres is still second. Lopez also remains in third place.
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SOURCE:
“Results of the ninth stage of the Rally Dakar Argentina-Chile 2011″
Chile, January 11, 2011
http://momento24.com
http://momento24.com/en/2011/01/11/results-of-the-ninth-stage-of-the-rally-dakar-argentina-chile-2011/

In a three-way battle of the Dakar masters, Marc Coma triumphed in Copiapo to pick up his third special stage this year and further consolidate his position as race leader. Meanwhile Despres and Lopez, fight on for second and third, and Jonah Street fights further mechanical issues.

Unless there is an epidemic of insurmountable mechanical problems, the battle for Dakar victory will be between Marc Coma, Cyril Despres and Francisco Lopez. Coma’s first order of business is to protect his lead over Despres in the overall standings. As third rider to start in the early morning, the Coma soon overtook Despres. It wasn’t a lonely ride for the two though, as they were joined by Lopez “Chaleco” Francisco, the winner of yesterday’s stage.

Depending on which quotes you follow, riding with the Coma and Despres represents a trap for Cyril Despres, which forces him to assume navigational duties for the group.

Cyril Despres, “There are back wheel like leeches in rally raids too”

“It wasn’t too bad at all today. We’ve been on the go for a while: 505 kilometres. And it wasn’t easy to open the way, so obviously the others catch up with you. Chaleco and me opened up the way and we had a great time. Today, the game was to stay right behind following in my tracks. He didn’t take too many risks, but, you know, that happens. You can’t do much about it, but we still distanced the rest of them by miles. Chaleco led the way on all the quick parts and I did the dunes. In the end, the satisfaction came from overtaking them and crossing the finishing line first. It’s not much, but for a day like today it’s a source of satisfaction. The problem with navigation is like in cycling some riders stick to your back wheel like leeches; well, there’s the same thing in rally raids too. But that’s just part of the game”.

With Coma’s time lead of 1’55” over Despres, all he needs to do to win is ride with the second place holder to win. There are varying reports of all three leaders sharing navigational duties for the stage.

According to Coma, “It was a hard stage and very long with plenty of mileage and dunes. With Cyril and Chaleco we all rode together. We took turns to open the way, at a very fast pace too. I was happy about the pace today. It was a good stage after a complicated one yesterday. But in the end, everything turned out fine. I’m glad, because it was a 500-km special. That’s a hell of a lot”.

If Coma was playing a “safe game” and Despres was biding his time to try and shake him, then today’s third place finisher Lopez was pushing hard to avoid his “riding companions” leaving him in the dust.

The day’s fourth-placed rider, Helder Rodrigues, occupies the same rank in the general standings, but trails the Chilean rider by almost 20 minutes. The Portuguese rider is still a potential candidate for a place on the podium, unlike his countryman who won the stage at Iquique, Paolo Gonçalves, and who exited the rally after crashing and breaking his collar bone. Frans Verhoeven saw a distance open up between himself and the Top 5, after having spent several hours making running repairs on his BMW at the start of the stage. Jonah Street and Jordi Viladoms also saw their hopes dashed further on the day’s special.

However, these mishaps were good news for Pal-Anders Ullevalseter. The runner-up to Despres in 2010 is starting to get used to his 450cc and finally put in a time worthy of his status, finishing in 5th place in Copiapo. The disasters which befell those in front of him yesterday should enable him to climb up to 7th position, after having started the rally in 29th place!

Another hard day for Jonah Street today. Per Team Rally PanAm mechanic Niles Follin, Jonah took a rock into his front wheel, broke the brake line, mashed up his caliper, ripped out the pickup for his ICOs (odometer). That means that Street completed the last 2/3 or more of the stage with no ICOs to provide mileage, essential for navigation, and no front brakes.

That’s the second day in a row that Street has ridden with limited to no navigational functionality. Yesterday’s issue is now confirmed as electrical issue, not a solenoid short as originally reported.

Per the blog.cycleworld.com Street said, “A portion of the wiring harness wasn’t put back in place correctly after our rest-day motor swap. It was sitting on the hot exhaust pipe, and a relay got cooked. That killed electrical power, and the bike stopped.

“I was somewhere around the 120-140 kilometer mark when the engine stopped. I don’t remember exactly because I was frantically trying to find the issue and fix it. I lost a little more than an hour and dropped to around 14th place overall.”

The two hard even for Dakar days in a row have Street sitting provisionally at 34th in the stage and 15th overall. Meanwhile fellow American Quinn Cody is 15th overall with today’s 10th place finish some 43m27s off the lead rider.

Simon Pavey is continuing to inspire as he fights onwards to place 59th in the stage and 55th overall. Pavey’s BMW is one of the few that hasn’t littered the withdrawal list (four other BMW riders have withdrawn), and that gives him a dubious honor of being the lead Beemer. Or is that only?

Paulo Goncalves and Frans Verhoeven of the BMW Speedbrain Team are facing big trouble. Goncalves crashed before CP1, and the Portuguese rider complained of shoulder pain at the checkpoint where he was diagnosed with a broken collarbone. It’s rumoured that around the same position Frans Verhoeven’s 450 BMW engine grenaded. Apparently Verhoeven field swapped engines with Goncalves’ bike and the Belgian continued after losing 4h18’10?.

The BMW G450X is a matter of contention for Pavey, as yesterday the ASO bumped the Brit from the Marathon Class, which disallows engine changes, into the Semi-Marathon class. Pavey was informed that BMW had never ‘homologated’ the standard G450X with the F.I.M, so the bike was not ‘standard’, and that he’d been re-classified. That’s a blow as Simon sat in third position in the Marathon class and had a good chance at the lead before being ousted.

Tonight the riders prepare for Stage 9, the 235km special of the Copiapo-Copiapo Loop. The stage is dominated by majestic dunes and difficult navigation thanks to the depth of the valley’s formed by these sand mountains. Rider’s who stray from the course could be condemned to an endless series of maneuvers and challenging navigation with limited landmarks. It’s a day full of traps, that offers opportunity to expert desert riders and navigators. Adding to the excitement of the stage, the bikers will set off in a grouped start, in rows of ten for the leading riders then in rows of 20 for the dwindling list of Dakar survivors.
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SOURCE:
“Dakar 2011 Stage 8 Summary: Antofagasta > Copiapo”
Monday, 10 January 2011
http://www.onewheeldrive.net
http://www.onewheeldrive.net/2011/01/10/dakar-2011-stage-8-summary-antofagasta-copiapo/

Titleholder Sainz of Spain saw his overall lead whittled down to 1 minute 22 seconds over the Qatari driver after the stretch of more than 600 kilometres from Arica to Antofagasta.

Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel in a BMW lost further ground after finishing fourth place behind VW driver Giniel de Villiers, and is now 21:11 behind Sainz in third place.

Francisco Lopez Contardo of Chile won the bike category stage, 2:21 ahead of defending champion Cyril Despres of France and 3:45 up on overall leader Marc Coma of Spain.

Coma’s overall lead was 7:24 over Despres and 18:27 on Lopez Contardo.

The eighth stage Monday is from Antofagasta to Copiapo. The Dakar Rally is scheduled to end January 15 in Buenos Aires, where winners are to be celebrated a day later.
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SOURCE:
“Al-Attiyah edges nearer to Sainz after Dakar rally stage seven win”
10-01-2011
digibet.info
http://www.digibet.info
http://www.digibet.info/topnewsgbtease/00_20110109175157_Al_Attiyah_edges_nearer_to_Sainz_after_Dakar_r.php