31 Dakar Rally 6 Tappa
31ST DAKAR RALLY (January 3rd-January 18th, 2009)
Leg 6: San Rafaël - Mendoza
Liaison, 76 km; special, 178 km; liaison, 361 km; total, 615 km.
Weather conditions: warm and sunny, 17 degrees Centigrade, rising to 30 degrees
Centigrade
For immediate release
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
MITSUBISHI'S CHALLENGE DOWN TO TWO 'RACING LANCERS' AFTER SHORTENED STAGE INTO
MENDOZA
· Peterhansel and Roma set fifth and sixth fastest times
· Gilles Picard illness forces Alphand out of Dakar Rally
MENDOZA (Argentina): The sixth stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally between San Rafaël and
Mendoza marked a day that Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart would rather forget, after
team co-driver Gilles Picard (France) was taken ill on the special stage and forced
the immediate retirement of his driver Luc Alphand (France) from the race.
Team mates Stephane Peterhansel (France) and Joan 'Nani' Roma (Spain) finished the
stage with the fifth and sixth fastest times, but now hold sixth and fifth in the
overall standings and face an uphill struggle to regain the lost time over the coming
days.
Today's special stage was originally shortened from 394km to 232km and then to 178km
because of the risk of standing water caused by recent rainfall. Event officials sent
a route vehicle into the stage on Wednesday to monitor a river crossing which was
already 80cm high and the decision was taken to skip the section on safety grounds.
Mitsubishi's mechanics finally completed the work on Peterhansel's and Jean-Paul
Cottret's (France) 'Racing Lancer' just before the pair were scheduled to leave the
bivouac and head into the liaison section to the sixth stage to Mendoza.
Peterhansel had incurred a 15-minute penalty in San Rafaël on Wednesday evening for
missing a time control. He eventually set the fifth fastest time.
Luc Alphand (France) was forced to withdraw from the Dakar Rally 12km after the start
of the stage this morning, when co-driver Gilles Picard (France) was taken ill
assisting Alphand in putting plates under a wheel when they were stuck in the mud. As
a precaution he was airlifted to the bivouac in San Rafaël for medical checks, but
Alphand was unable to continue. Picard then underwent an electro-cardiogram test and
everything was normal.
Joan 'Nani' Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (Spain) held sixth position through the opening
passage control and maintained his position to the finish.
Live footage of the 2009 Dakar Rally can be seen on Eurosport at the following
times:
Eurosport
18.05 hrs GMT - 18.30 hrs GMT
22.00 hrs GMT - 22.45 hrs GMT
SS6 CLASSIFICATION
1. Nasser AL ATTIYAH (BMW X3 CC - T1.2)
- 2:07:26 (**:**)
2. Giniel DE VILLIERS (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2)
- 2:12:33 (+5:07)
3. Mark MILLER (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2)
- 2:12:53 (+5:27)
4. Carlos SAINZ (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2)
- 2:16:03 (+8:37)
5. Stephane PETERHANSEL (MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER - T1.2)
- 2:20:40 (+13:14)
6. Joan ROMA (MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER - T1.2)
- 2:21:46 (+14:20)
7. Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC (NISSAN NAVARA - T1.1)
- 2:27:25 (+19:59)
8. Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN (NISSAN NAVARA - T1.1)
- 2:44:40 (+37:14)
9. Robby GORDON (HUMMER H3 - OP1)
- 2:44:56 (+37:30)
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 6
1. Nasser AL ATTIYAH (BMW X3 CC - T1.2)
- 20:52:03 (**:**)
2. Giniel DE VILLIERS (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2)
- 20:59:34 (+7:31)
3. Carlos SAINZ (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2)
- 21:07:13 (+15:10)
4. Mark MILLER (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2)
- 21:17:25 (+25:22)
5. Joan ROMA (MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER - T1.2)
- 21:30:52 (+38:49)
6. Stephane PETERHANSEL (MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER - T1.2)
- 21:34:01 (+41:58)
7. Robby GORDON (HUMMER H3 - OP1)
- 22:11:21 (+1:19:18)
8. Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC (NISSAN NAVARA - T1.1)
- 23:32:49 (+2:40:46)
9. Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN (NISSAN NAVARA - T1.1)
- 23:49:31 (+2:57:28)
