Leg 7: Mendoza - Valparaiso Liaison, 80 km; special, 243 km; liaison, 419 km; total, 742 km.
For immediate release Friday, January 9th, 2009
MITSUBISHI'S DAKAR VICTORY CHANCES REST WITH ROMA AFTER PETERHANSEL RETIRES EN ROUTE TO CHILE
· Peterhansel retires with engine problems; Roma maintains fourth
VALPARAISO (Chile): Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart's chances of earning an eighth successive victory in the punishing Dakar Rally now rest with Joan 'Nani' Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both Spain), after Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret (both France) were sidelined with engine problems on the seventh stage, near Mendoza, in Argentina.
Roma and Peterhansel had begun the stage behind a trio of Volkswagens and team director Dominique Serieys had issued a battle cry for his remaining two drivers to launch an assault and a serious challenge for the lead over the coming stages.
But Peterhansel's turbo-diesel 'Racing Lancer' sustained a small fire in the stage and then, at the 114km point, the nine-times Dakar winner was sidelined with engine problems before the passage through the Andes into Chile.
Team mate Roma duly set the fourth fastest time and maintained fourth overall, but he trails overall leader Carlos Sainz (Spain) by 29m 16s heading into the final week of the event, which reaches a climax in Buenos Aires on Sunday, January 18th. Sainz has a nine-second lead over his team mate Giniel de Villiers (South Africa).
Before what is becoming one of the toughest Dakars in the events 30-year history crossed the mighty Andes mountain range on Friday morning, crews tackled a shortened 243km special stage through some small dunes and a section of tricky fesh-fesh, before beginning a climb on to twistier tracks. The stage had been shortened from its original 419 km because of recent thunderstorms and flooding in the foothills of the Andes.
Tomorrow (Saturday) is the traditional rest day assigned to the Dakar Rally by the ASO. It marks a crucial opportunity for crews to take a much-needed rest and for mechanics to carry out full repairs to the cars without watching the clock and needing to finish in time for an early morning restart.
The rest day also marks the arrival of numerous guests, media and VIPs from Europe, all keen to share the atmosphere of this unique event.
Live footage of the 2009 Dakar Rally can be seen on Eurosport at the following times:
