MOTORSPORT: Dakar deals its cruel fate

Aussie Connell bears testament to Dakar Rally’s ruthlessness
The Aussies are out of the Dakar Rally’s car section as the world’s toughest motoring event is into its second week, preparing to cross the Andes mountains for the long desert stages in Chile.

Spaniards are on top, winning the latest stages in the car and bike sections and leading both those categories overall.

Dakar competition ended before the weekend’s rest day for the Isuzu D-Max in which Australian Chris Watman was co-driving with Czech-born but Aussie-based Peter Jerie and the Polaris SSV driven by Garry Connell with Swedish co-driver Annie Seel.

The D-Max’s diesel engine expired 150km into the fifth day and it was towed to the end of the stage by the Tatra truck that Watman’s brother Chris is co-driving with Slovakian Robert Kasak.

They didn’t make it to the checkpoint until 8.30am the next day and the Isuzu was disqualified from the event.

The truck has continued and is 50th of 52 still running in that category.

Connell’s Polaris was put out by a chaffed $50 external oil feed line to the oil cooler. In a Facebook post Connell said he was “feeling depressed”.

“If you have any, and I mean ANY, weak links in either yourself, your race vehicle or your assistance team, preparations or strategy, Dakar WILL find them and your rally will be over,” Connell said.

Three of the six Australians who started in the bike section are still going – Troy O’Connor on a KTM is 43rd after seven stages, Allan Roberts 46th on another KTM and Shane Diener on a Yamaha 55th after finishing 28th on the latest stage – the best day in the debut of the Dakar Challenge winner from last year’s Australasian Safari.

Dakar death toll rises
This year’s Dakar has been marred by three deaths – Belgian motorcycle rider Eric Palente who was found the morning after failing to complete the fifth stage and two members of an Argentine news team whose car plunged over a 100-metre cliff.

Two others in that car survived.

Spaniards dominate four wheels and two
Spain’s Carlos Sainz in a two-wheel-drive SMG buggy won the latest car stage, a 533km loop around Salta, a city in northern Argentina that had hosted the weekend’s rest – or recovery and repair – day.

Fellow Spaniard Nani Roma still leads overall in an X-Raid Mini All4 by more than half an hour from the similar machine of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel.

Roma, Peterhansel and Sainz each have won two stages of this year’s event.

Although Peterhansel, the Dakar’s most successful competitor, made up a couple of minutes on the high-altitude seventh stage (on which air temperatures were below 20 degrees after 40-plus on each previous day), had to slow several times to avoid hitting herds of llamas.

Peterhansel said he “had to brake hard and then drive carefully while the llamas got out of the way”.

“We scared them away for the other drivers and it cost us some time, because when you go down to 50km/h at this altitude it takes a while before you get back to 160,” he said.

Sainz is only sixth overall, more than one hour and 50 minutes behind Roma, after a one-hour penalty late last week for missing a waypoint.

Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah copped a similar penalty the same day in his Mini and is fifth, more than 78 minutes behind Roma, who has said he is conserving himself and his machine now by driving at only 90 per cent.

South African Giniel de Villiers is third in his Toyota Hilux, 48 minutes and 23 seconds off the lead, with Argentina’s Orlando Terranova fourth in his Mini after a 15-minute penalty for unsporting behaviour on the latest stage.

The South African-prepared Ford Ranger with a 5.0-litre Mustang engine of Argentineans Lucio Alvarez and Ronnie Graue was 18th for the day and is now 40th overall.

The seventh stage was the second longest of the event so far and included a flat-out blast over a 20km salt flat.

The stage peaked at almost 4100m and averaged more than 3500m which meant cars struggled to “breathe” in the thin air and power outputs dropped by up to 25 per cent.    

“It was hard for the engine ... the power wasn’t there,” Dakar veteran Alvarez said.

His team manager Scott Abrabham added: “The normally-aspirated engines are at a disadvantage compared to the turbo-diesel cars that suffer less this high up, but it was still a good stage.

“The Ranger is still going strong, Lucio and Ronnie are happy and comfortable in the car and we’re starting to build momentum.

“Now we go over the Andres and begin tackling Lucio’s favourite environment in the dunes.

“Over the next days we have the chance to make up lots of time if we have clean stages.

“Tomorrow’s stage isn’t so representative, but when we reach the coastal stages I think we could surprise a few people.”

The bikes and quads took a different route to the cars and trucks on the seventh day of competition, venturing into Bolivia and finishing near Uyuni, home to the largest salt lake in the world.

Spaniard Joan Barreda Bort won the bike stage, which was shortened from 401km to 104km after rain, while his countryman Marc Coma on a KTM leads him by more than 38 minutes overall.

France’s defending Dakar bike champion Cyril Depres was third on the latest stage on his Yamaha but remains almost 2½ hours behind Coma and only 10th.

The eighth stage Monday night-Tuesday morning Australian time will be the last on which the bikes and quads will take a different route to the cars and trucks.

For the latter categories it will be one of the longest days of the event. After a 5.15am start, they have a 522km liaison section before 302km of competition on dirt and stony roads.

The field then heads down Chile this week to the finish at Valparaiso.

World Rally Championship revs up
Meanwhile, competitors are assembled in southern France for the Monte Carlo Rally, the sport’s oldest event and the first of 13 rounds of this year’s world championship from Tuesday until Sunday.

It will start at Gap, birthplace of Volkswagen’s reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier, and will mark the return of Hyundai to the WRC with two of its i20s, to be driven by Belgian Thierry Neuville and Spaniard Dani Sordo (Australian Chris Atkinson will be at the wheel of the second entry at the Mexican round and perhaps some others).

Tyre selection is particularly tricky on "The Monte" because of the combination of asphalt, ice and snow.

Compounding the difficulties, some of the 18 stages are at night.

Driving Ford Fiestas this week will be French veteran Francois Delecour, a former winner of the event, and Poland’s ex-Formula One driver and grand prix winner Robert Kubica, along with Finn Mikko Hirvonen, having returned from Peugeot, and Welsh newcomer Elfyn Evans.

Dubai 24-Hour race concludes
The Nissan 370Z that V8 Supercar driver James Moffat shared in the weekend’s Dubai 24-Hour race finished third in its class, SP2, while a sister car won that class. A Porsche 911 won outright ahead of two Mercedes SLSs.

Nissan has confirmed it will contest next year’s World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24-Hour, with a petrol-hybrid against long-dominant Audi, its recent challenger Toyota and Porsche, the latter returning this year with Australian Mark Webber as one of its drivers.

Nissan already has a special “Garage 56” Le Mans entry this year with its experimental ZEOD RC – meaning zero emission on demand racing car.

F1 numbers game
Daniel Ricciardo, now Australia’s sole Formula One driver, has chosen No. 3 for his Red Bull RB10 car this season, as new rules allow drivers to choose numbers and retain them throughout their careers.

His four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel will be No. 5 in any season he is not sporting the No. 1 as the reigning champion.

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