For immediate release Saturday, January 10th, 2009
MITSUBISHI'S DAKAR DESTINY RESTS WITH JOAN 'NANI' ROMA
· Peterhansel, Alphand and Masuoka retire after punishing first week
VALPARAISO (Chile): Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart's chances of earning an eighth successive victory in the punishing Dakar Rally rest with Joan 'Nani' Roma and Lucas Cruz Senra (both Spain) after a punishing first week's competitive action across Argentina.
Mitsubishi headed to South America with four, new turbo-diesel 'Racing Lancers' and their usual line-up of four experienced drivers and co-drivers. The team had left nothing to chance in the weeks building up to the event, with meticulous physical preparation for the crews and an extensive test and development program with the new car, which had won 'out of the box' in the hands of Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret (both France) in the Baja Portalegre.
But the remote Patagonian wastelands of southern Argentina and the treacherous sand dunes of the western Mendoza province were a totally different proposition to the rigours of a test session in North Africa and the opening days of the 2009 Dakar Rally became a rapid learning curve for Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart.
The opening high-speed dash across the pampas netted the team fifth, sixth and eighth positions, with Luc Alphand (France) leading the Mitsubishi charge from Peterhansel and Roma, but Hiroshi Masuoka (Japan) and Pascal Maimon (France) were sidelined with a broken engine pulley.
As a solitary BMW jostled with a trio of Volkswagens for the early overall lead, Peterhansel leapt back into contention with the second fastest time on the run south into Patagonia and the overnight halt at Puerto Madryn. He duly moved up to third overall, with Roma and Alphand nestled into fifth and sixth places. Mitsubishi appeared to have weathered the early storm.
Peterhansel set the fifth fastest time on the tiring westerly sprint across the Patagonian scrubland to the railway town of Ingeniero Jacobacci, where Roma was eighth and the pair held fourth and fifth overall. But Alphand discovered gas-oil leaking from the rear of his 'Racing Lancer' and lost 30 minutes affecting emergency repairs to a fuel pump seal and slipped to 10th place.
But the former Dakar winner was in sensational form on the following morning's run north to Neuquén and stormed through the field from 15th on the road to take the third fastest time and climb to eighth place. Roma and Peterhansel set the fifth and eighth times on the 380km special and confirmed fifth and fourth overall behind a pair of Volkswagens and a solitary BMW.
Peterhansel pushed a little harder on the fifth stage into San Rafaël, where competitors came face-to-face with a series of challenging sand dunes for the first time. He held the initiative early in the stage and could well have taken a stage win, but he descended one sand dune and was heading for the foot of a second one 15 km from the finish, when the Mitsubishi hit a patch of camel-type grass and flipped over.
The impact damaged the car's bodywork and radiator and the Frenchman was towed into the bivouac, the resultant penalty of 15 minutes knocking him down the leader board to sixth place. Alphand and Roma had been seventh and eighth on the stage and remained inside the top 10.
The subsequent sixth stage was shortened because of recent rainfall in the Mendoza province and a river crossing was cancelled, but teams still had to negotiate the same series of sand dunes in reverse. Peterhansel and Roma eventually finished the stage with the fifth and sixth fastest times to hold sixth and fifth in the overall standings, but the Mitsubishi challenge was reduced to just two cars.
Alphand was forced to withdraw 12km after the start, when co-driver Gilles Picard (France) was taken ill assisting Alphand in putting plates under the wheels when they were stuck in a deep muddy swamp. They had been trying to free the 'Racing Lancer' for over 90 minutes.
As a precaution, Picard was airlifted to the bivouac in San Rafaël for medical checks, but Alphand was unable to continue. Picard then underwent an electro-cardiogram test. Everything was in order and the pair travelled with the team to Valparaiso.
Roma and Peterhansel began the shortened seventh stage, near Mendoza, behind a trio of Volkswagens and team director Dominique Serieys (France) 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 early in the stage and terminal engine damage occurred at the 114km point. The nine-times Dakar winner was sidelined before the passage through the Andes into Chile, although Roma managed to set the fourth fastest time.
He headed into the rest day, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, in fourth overall, 29m 16s behind Carlos Sainz (Spain) and still within striking distance of the leading Volkswagen trio.
But seven punishing stages are planned for the second week of the 2009 Dakar Rally and Roma and Cruz Senra will have to tackle the rigours of the Atacama desert and the return across the Andes into Argentina without the support of their team mates, Peterhansel, Alphand and Masuoka.
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 7 1. Carlos SAINZ (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2) - 23:42:40 (**:**) 2. Giniel DE VILLIERS (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2) - 23:42:49 (+0:09) 3. Mark MILLER (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2) - 23:56:33 (+13:53) 4. Joan ROMA (MITSUBISHI RACING LANCER - T1.2) - 24:11:56 (+29:16) 5. Robby GORDON (HUMMER H3 - OP1) - 24:51:01 (+1:08:21) 6. Krzysztof HOLOWCZYC (NISSAN NAVARA - T1.1) - 26:22:12 (+2:39:32) 7. Ivar Erik TOLLEFSEN (NISSAN NAVARA - T1.1) - 26:46:01 (+3:03:21) 8. Orlando TERRANOVA (BMW X3 CC - T1.2) - 27:47:33 (+4:04:53) 9. Dieter DEPPING (VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG - T1.2) - 28:30:23 (+4:47:43) 10. Rene KUIPERS (BMW X3 CC - T1.2) - 28:42:31 (+4:59:51)
Emmanuel Wisman and Nicolas Garnier - mechanics in T4 trucks
Bringing up the rear of the field
The unsung heroes of any Dakar Rally are the mechanics and drivers who work for a major team and follow the competition cars through the stages in the officially-entered T4 race trucks. When one of Mitsubishi’s ‘Racing Lancers’ hits trouble, these are the two crews who are first on the scene to carry out emergency repairs. Without the T4 race trucks, the official cars would be stranded without assistance and with little chance of reaching an overnight halt.
Mitsubishi entered two T4 race trucks in the 2009 Dakar Rally and both have had their fair share of adventures over the past seven days. The first truck (No. 543) is crewed by Serge Lacourt, Emmanuel Wisman and Pascal Bonnaire, while the second T4 (No. 554) is occupied by Raphaël Gimbre, Nicolas Garnier and Jean-Louis Berger. Both trucks reached Valparaiso around 22.00hrs on the eve of the rest day after a drama-filled first week.
Pont-de-Vaux-based mechanics Wisman and Garnier are tackling the event for the first time and both admit that they have experienced more in a week than they have in 20 years working in the automotive industry.
"I have been astonished at the difficulty of this rally," admitted Wisman. "It has been very difficult for us in the race trucks to pass through the dunes, to avoid getting stuck.
"Each day has been very long and very different. Passing so many people on the roads has been incredible. It has been a case of continuing as best we can and doing the best job we can on a difficult rally. When he have arrived at the scene of a problem it has been crucial to work quickly, but in the case of Hiroshi (Masuoka) the car was not repairable. We could help with Stephane’s (Peterhansel) car, but with Luc (Alphand) it was a totally different situation.
"All in all it has been a fantastic experience for me so far. The passage through the Andes was spectacular."
Garnier was part of the three-man team that arrived at the scene when Alphand and Gilles Picard were stuck in a deep mud hole on the sixth stage. The truck crew had already spent one night in the sand dunes and were understandably tired.
"The first week for me was packed full of excitement," added Garnier. "Working on the cars in the middle of nowhere and spending nights in the dunes is so different to our usual job with Mitsubishi.
"We thought it was safer to sleep a little in the dunes and then return to the bivouac in the light after finding a safe passage. Then we set out again on the next special. It was quite an experience to spend two days on the special stages.
"Now I suppose we have a big responsibility in the two race trucks to make sure that we keep going and support our last car as best we can next week."
Live footage of the 2009 Dakar Rally can be seen on Eurosport at the following times:
