The X-Raid MINIs have thier numbers... The car numbers have been finalized and Dakar race officials will be performing scrutineering. The MINI X-Raid cars: 300 STEPHANE PETERHANSEL (FRA)/JEAN PAUL COTTRET (FRA) 301 NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)/LUCAS CRUZ (ESP) 304 NANI ROMA (ESP)/MICHEL PERIN (FRA) 307 ORLANDO TERRANOVA (ARG)/PAULO FIUZA (PRT) 309 KRZYSZTOF HOLOWCZYC (POL)/KONSTANTIN ZHILTSOV (RUS) 314 VLADIMIR VASILYEV (RUS)/VITALIY YEVTYEKHOV (UKR) 317 BORIS GARAFULIC (CHL)/GILLES PICARD (FRA) 319 YONG ZHOU (CHN)/HONG YU PAN (CHN) 330 FEDERICO VILLAGRA (ARG)/JORGE PEREZ COMPANC (ARG) 332 MARTIN KACZMARSKI (POL)/FILIPE PALMEIRO (PRT) 337 STEPHAN SCHOTT (DEU)/HOLM SCHMIDT (DEU)
★ Official figures ★ 431 competitors, 174 bikes, 40 quads, 147 cars 70 trucks will be at the departure of the 2014 edition.
After 1 stage I think the biggest surprise is poor Robby Gordon in his Hummer is already more than 2 hours back! Don't know what sort of issues he had. The leader is Sousa in a Haval (?) and the X-Raid MINIs are 2nd (Terranova), 3rd (Al-Attiyah), 4th (Roma), 6th (Peterhansel), 7th (Holowczyc), 11th (Villagra), 13th (Vasilyev), 22nd (Kaczmarski), 25th (Zhou), 27th (Garafulic), 29th (Schott). To put Gordon's position in perspective, that 11th MINI is a little more than 17min off the lead, Gordon lost 2h 8m 6s. I think he even started late.
Haval is nameplate for a range of SUV type vehicles made by the Great Wall Motor Company. Great Wall Motors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There is someone form Top Gear there covering the race. Not one of the usual 3. Full Article - TopGear.com at the Dakar: day one - BBC Top Gear
Three Hungarians in a Toyota Land Cruiser, probably having the time of their lives and will be pleased just to finish: All the same, there aren't many places other than the Dakar where one competitor stops to tow another even if, as I think will happen, they get some time credits from the organisers for their good deed.
Stage 2 brief description (from the organizers): If I remember correctly, the buggies have big horsepower and are usually expected to do well on fast terrain and dunes.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzHgo6Hcfss]MINI Shifting Gears to Start the 2014 Dakar. - YouTube[/ame]
Day 2: Peterhansel takes the lead with the MINI in the Car Class Stéphane Peterhansel took up the position of leader, conquered on completion of a stage driven with the requisite doses of calm and aggression! It was perhaps this control of pace that was lacking for yesterday's winner Carlos Sousa, who ground to a halt after 33 km of the special, after breaking his turbo. The Portuguese driver, who is often among the most regular in the discipline, could paradoxically leave the race prematurely whilst having started the day in leading place. At the very least, between San Rafael and San Luis, he will have lost a considerable number of hours, robbing him of any hope of victory or even the podium in Valparaiso. Whilst “Peter†regained his favourite place after two days of racing, the gaps have nonetheless shortened at the top of the general car standings, because the leader only has an advantage of half a minute over Carlos Sainz and his SMG buggy. Behind them, the top 5 is made up of three of Peterhansel's X-Raid team-mates. The presence in 3rd of Nasser Al Attiyah (4'10'' behind the Frenchman in the general), despite two flat tyres which obliged him to drive without a spare wheel for 100 kilometres, makes it likely that there will be one hell of a battle on the podium. The confrontation could still expand thanks to Nani Roma (4th, 4'19'' behind “Peterâ€) or even Orly Terranova, still within less than 10 minutes of the general standings leader.
US - Stage 1 - Inside Dakar 2014 - Dakar in words [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce1DpQqQh_Y]US - Stage 1 - Inside Dakar 2014 - Dakar in words - YouTube[/ame]
US - Stage 200 - Inside Dakar 2014 - Childhood memories (part 1 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqoe8_K2oI]EN - Stage 2 - Inside Dakar 2014 - Childhood memories (part 1) - YouTube[/ame]