[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXUTy0E-obo"]Stage 3 Summary - Car/Bike - (Termas Rio Hondo / Jujuy) - YouTube[/ame]
Like they did for Loeb's Pike's Peak run, looks like Peugeot did their homework and prepared very, very well. The top 3 today were all in Peugeots and after a marathon stage of 429km they somehow finished separated by only 27sec! The 4th placed driver on this stage, Al-Attiyah, finished a further 4min 30sec back. Stage 4: Peterhansel wins as Peugeot dominates (motorsport.com) De Villiers: the Peugeots look unbeatable (maxrally.com)
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgtUBfBvNJU"]Stage 4 Summary - Car/Bike - (Jujuy / Jujuy) - YouTube[/ame]
I like listening to Peterhansel force himself to say nice things about Loeb when he was beating him, which I don't think he expected. Of all the people I would not want to meet down a dark alley in the wrong part of town, Peterhansel must be top of the list. That the Peugeot big buggies with 2WD should beat the 4WD cars on stages that favoured 4WD must be bad news for everyone else - when they hit the sand dunes, no-one is gonna see their dust.
Help me here, I always thought that 4wd would have it all over a 2wd car especially in deep sand. I no comprendo!
That confused me, too, and they keep talking about it so it's clearly not someone misspeaking or being misinterpreted. I'm curious to see what happens when they get to the sand and dunes stages.
This won't help Peterhansel's mood. Loeb ought to give some thought to setting up a few security cameras near his car..... Also note another Peugeot 1-2-3. At this point others must be pinning all their hopes on Peugeot unreliability. Stage 5: Loeb extends lead with third win (motorsport.com)
They're at the highest altitude the Dakar has ever run at. Competitors complaining of headaches, etc, and hitting the oxygen bottle.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REIgIrhBtaA"]Stage 5 Summary - Car/Bike - (Jujuy / Uyuni) - YouTube[/ame]
It says "Peterhansel overturned Sebastien Loeb’s eight-minute lead" but that's a bit of a spin on the truth as Loeb lost it. Loeb was leading the stage more than a third of the way through, then had problems and lost a lot of time. Interesting race now though since Loeb's issues gave everyone else about 8min. Peugeot still hold the top three spots overall but Peterhansel moved ahead of Loeb, though by only 27sec. Peter perfect on the long road (maxrally.com)
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skFBV-Sok2A"]Stage 6 Summary - Car/Bike - (Uyuni / Uyuni) - YouTube[/ame]
Dakar Headline: Loeb loses lead though punctures and other problems - Not printed: Peterhansel finds box of tacks The 2WD .vs. 4WD argument is interesting. The pro-2WD argument seems to be: - rally raid cars give their front tyres enough to do with just steering and adding traction to that isn't helpful; - 2WD is lighter, so (a) faster and (b) doesn't need as much traction; - 2WD has fewer bits to go wrong. It looks to me like the Peugeot also have deeper tread tyres with more open block pattern and, if they're lighter, maybe they can run a more advantageous tyre tread. Robby Gordon* has shown over several years that 2WD can be faster in certain conditions, but I think Peugeot are showing it can also be faster in all conditions. I mostly conclude that you need to be cleverer and/or more knowledgeable than me to understand all the pros and cons. * The USA's best international sporting ambassador?
I don't know whether De Villiers knows what he's talking about but he seemed to imply a few days ago that the buggies have more power. I wonder whether there are regs that allow more power for 2wd cars.
I read it that De Villiers is saying that at high altitudes all engines have less power, so 2WD isn't at a traction disadvantage, and that he's hoping that at lower altitudes, the increased power (for everyone) will cause problems for the 2WD buggies.
Now all three of the leaders have a stage win. Peugeot still has a 1-2-3 going but at least Al-Attiyah kept Peterhansel off the podium today. Sainz shines on stormy Saturday (maxrally.com) Standings after Stage 7: Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Pos. No. Driver Car Time/Gap 1 314 Sebastien Loeb Peugeot 21h46m28s Daniel Elena 2 302 Stephane Peterhansel Peugeot 2m22s Jean-Paul Cottret 3 303 Carlos Sainz Peugeot 4m50s Lucas Cruz 4 300 Nasser Al-Attiyah Mini 17m36s Matthieu Baumel 5 315 Mikko Hirvonen Mini 32m53s Michel Perin 6 301 Giniel de Villiers Toyota 33m41s Dirk von Zitzewitz 7 319 Leeroy Poulter Toyota 40m19s Robert Howie 8 305 Yazeed Al-Rajhi Toyota 42m51s Timo Gottschalk 9 307 Vladimir Vasilyev Toyota 53m46s Konstantin Zhiltsov 10 317 Emiliano Spataro Renault 1h15m45s Benjamin Lozada