Leg 12: Fiambalá – La Rioja
Liaison, 4 km; special, 220 km; liaison, 261 km; total, 485 km.
Weather conditions: warm, humid and cloudy in La Rioja after heavy thunder showers in the morning, 35 degrees Centigrade.
For immediate release
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
MITSUBISHI’S ROMA LOSES FOURTH PLACE ON PERILOUS SPECIAL STAGE INTO LA RIOJA
Mitsubishi’s ‘Racing Lancer’ stops with technical problems
Special stage stopped at 175km point because of delays in dunes
Mitsubishi Racing Lancer Joan ‘Nani’ Roma / Lucas Cruz Senra
LA RIOJA (Argentina): Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both Spain) lost the final podium place in the 2009 Dakar Rally, after stopping with electrical problems 165km into the 220km special stage between Fiambalá and La Rioja on Thursday.
Mitsubishi’s sole-surviving turbo-diesel ‘Racing Lancer’ crew had held fourth overall at the start of the stage and come under increasing pressure from Robbie Gordon (USA) for the final podium place once overall leader Carlos Sainz (Spain) had retired after an accident. Roma, himself, had survived a scare at the same corner where Sainz crashed, but stopped 86km further on with his own technical problems.
A total of 132 bikes and quads, 89 cars and 56 trucks were permitted to start the 12th stage into La Rioja, where a fierce thunderstorm and incessant early morning rain had relieved some of the oppressive heat of the previous afternoon.
The original stage was reduced by around 33km at the overnight briefing in Fiambalá, when event officials discovered that the original route was scheduled to cross an archaeological site. It still featured some treacherous dune crossings and tricky navigation, but was eventually stopped at the 175km point on the grounds that too many crews were experiencing delays in the sand dunes between 140km and 170km. Roma duly arrived at the La Rioja bivouac and was awaiting news of any time penalties that may have been imposed on teams who did not complete the stage.
Tomorrow (Friday) is the penultimate day of competitive action in this year’s Dakar Rally and should have featured a 545km special stage in a total route of 753km between La Rioja and Córdoba, Argentina’s second city.
Event officials likened sections of this stage to the type of terrain more at home on the FIA World Rally Championship. However, recent heavy rain in the La Rioja and Córdoba areas forced the ASO to cut the section that began south of Patquia and headed east towards El Chaco.
The stage will now start at PC4 (364km) and teams will tackle a shortened 220km special stage that heads north through classic WRC Rally of Argentina territory to Villa de Seco and finishes just short of Villa Carlos Paz, the base for the WRC event, to the west of Córdoba. The city is situated in the foothills of the Sierra Chicas, 390 metresabove sea level, on the Suquía River and is one of the oldest former Spanish colonial capitals.
Live footage of the 2009 Dakar Rally can be seen on Eurosport at the following times:
18.05 hrs GMT – 18.30 hrs GMT
22.00 hrs GMT – 22.45 hrs GMT
SS12 CLASSIFICATION
1. Giniel DE VILLIERS (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG – T1.2)
– 4:06:43 (**:**)
2. Mark MILLER (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG – T1.2)
– 4:23:00 (+16:17)
3. Robby GORDON (HUMMER H3 – OP1)
– 4:32:10 (+25:27)
4. Dieter DEPPING (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG – T1.2)
– 4:48:45 (+42:02)
5. Leonid NOVITSKIY (BMW X3 CC – T1.2)
– 5:02:08 (+55:25)
6. Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN (NISSAN NAVARA – T1.1)
– 5:21:59 (+1:15:16)
7. Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC (NISSAN NAVARA – T1.1)
– 5:40:42 (+1:33:59)
8. Miroslav ZAPLETAL (MITSUBISHI L200 – T1.1)
– 5:44:06 (+1:37:23)
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 12
1. Giniel DE VILLIERS (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG – T1.2)
– 43:46:58 (**:**)
2. Mark MILLER (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG – T1.2)
– 43:49:33 (+2:35)
3. Robby GORDON (HUMMER H3 – OP1)
– 45:05:50 (+1:18:52)
4. Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN (NISSAN NAVARA – T1.1)
– 49:35:19 (+5:48:21)
5. Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC (NISSAN NAVARA – T1.1)
– 50:31:40 (+6:44:42)
6. Dieter DEPPING (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG – T1.2)
– 52:20:21 (+8:33:23)
7. Miroslav ZAPLETAL (MITSUBISHI L200 – T1.1)
– 54:36:34 (+10:49:36)
8. Leonid NOVITSKIY (BMW X3 CC – T1.2)
– 57:06:04 (+13:19:06)
* pending time penalties for Joan Roma/Lucas Cruz (Mitsubishi Racing Lancer)
DAKAR RALLY 2009
Topic of the Day
Eric Andre – chief mechanic
Eric Andre (France) is Team Repsol Misubishi Ralliart’s most experienced mechanic and has worked on the team’s Dakar Rally program since 1985. He is travelling on the 2009 event in a Mitsubishi Pajero 3.2 DI-D support car with Jean-Pierre Romanet, Yannick Chanrion and Tommy Monin (all France).
Married with two boys, 12 and 16 years old, and living close to the workshops in Pont-de-Vaux, Eric has been an ever present in Mitsubishi’s Dakar team line-up for nearly a quarter of a century and fondly recalls his first Dakar with the likes of Patrick Zaniroli (France).
“This year I am taking part in my 24th Dakar Rally with Mitsubishi. I have worked at Pont-de-Vaux throughout this time and am now in charge of all the mechanics for the race cars. I cannot remember how many wins we have had in that time (Mitsubishi won the Dakar in 1985-92-93-97-98 and 2001 to 2007 continuously), but I know for sure it is more than any other manufacturer!”
Andre is tasked with looking after the staffing of the mechanics for theDakar and the division of the roles between the ‘Racing Lancers’. “I organise the necessary work on the cars and the teams for each role we need at the service in the evenings. This year we had one more mechanic than usual, because of the complexity of the new car and the fact that it was our first time with the diesel engine.
“We have four mechanics, one who specializes in bodywork, one electrician and one parts’ mechanic on each car. When we lost a car early in the rally, then it was my role to re-apportion the work to the mechanics. When we lost Luc and then Stéphane I arranged a sort of rotation system for the work. It is not ideal for too many people to work on the one car. This is not an effective way of working.”
Andre has been impressed by the nature and difficulty of the first Dakarin South America. “I think that the tracks chosen by the ASO have been very difficult. Many competitors have had problems. The people inArgentina and Chile have been very happy to see the rally and have been friendly to everyone. I think these are positive factors for the event staying in this area in the future. I have many fond memories of the Dakars in Africa. Africa is different. But times change.”
