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The last long drive, the last sand dunes – and the last chance to make an impression at Dakar Rally 2017. Friday saw competitors cover 759 kilometres from San Juan to Rio Cuarto in Argentina.

With Saturday’s final stage only 64km long, there shouldn’t be much room for any major upset before the finish in Buenos Aires. But Sébastien Loeb sent a strong message to his French rival nonetheless…

Car

Having won Thursday’s stage, Stéphane Peterhansel opened the road three minutes before Loeb. But the rally-like tracks of the Córdoba area seemed to suit Loeb, a man with nine WRC world titles, and he overtook his teammate early in the day to win in Rio Cuarto. Orly Terranova completed Friday’s podium (+6'37) with Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers in fourth (+7’01).

But Loeb’s 18-second lead is not enough to pass Peterhansel in the overall standings. “Mister Dakar” could very well win his 13th title on Saturday. And with Loeb currently second overall (+5’32) and Cyril Despres third (+32’54), a Team Peugeot Total podium is looking more and more likely.

"We won the stage but we wanted more," said Loeb. “We gave everything we had and gained some time back during the first part. But we had a puncture at the beginning of the second one…

“It’s been a great battle, it was good to fight within seconds. We couldn’t have done more.”

Bike

Joan Barreda has now won Stage 11. The race organisers gave him three minutes back as he had been obstructed by spectators during the special. That’s his third consecutive stage win.

As a result, Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves took second and Adrien Van Beveren from France third.

Nothing that would bother Sam Sunderland though – having taken fifth this Friday, the British rider still leads overall. His first Dakar victory is closer than ever.

On Friday night, Sunderland is 33’09 ahead of his KTM teammate Matthias Walkner and 37’10 ahead of Van Beveren. Arrived 10th in Rio Cuarto, Walkner now needs to defend his second place in the general rankings. But he can count on Sunderland. 

“During the second part, I knew Matthias was behind me and he is fighting for a second so I didn’t want to make dust for it and I cruised a bit and let him go by in the speed zone, just following him,” explained the race leader.

“There is still one stage to go though. I won’t let myself believe it until it’s done.”

Štefan Svitko had been taken to the hospital on Thursday after finishing the stage in a state of exhaustion, yet the Slovak rider showed up on the start line on Friday morning and finished in ninth place.

Quad

Russia’s Sergey Karyakin won his second consecutive stage more than 20 minutes before second-placed Daniel Domaszewski from Argentina, confirming his overall lead.

Truck

Overall leader Eduard Nikolaev from Kamaz Team won a second consecutive stage in Rio Cuarto, beating the Argentinean driver Federico Villagra by only 52 seconds.

 

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PEUGEOT 3008DKRs claimed the three fastest times for the second time since the start of the 2017 Dakar Rally.

Sébastien LOEB, Stéphane PETERHANSEL and Cyril DESPRES locked out the podium on Tuesday’s shortened stage to make it an all-Team Peugeot Total overall top three once more, with the provisional leaderboard topped by LOEB/ELENA.
The three surviving PEUGEOT 3008DKRs made their mark on the 2017 Dakar Rally’s marathon test byposting the three best times on Stage 8. Sébastien LOEB and Daniel ELENA toppedTuesday’s order with an effort of 4h11m2s which has taken them 1m38s clear ofteam-mates Stéphane PETERHANSEL/Jean-Paul COTTRET who were second quickesttoday (+3m35s). The sold run of Cyril DESPRES/David CASTERA was rewarded withthe third-best time (+5m35s) and they are now back up to third overall, 6m19sahead of Nani ROMA/Alex HARO BRAVO. 
In keeping withthe Dakar’s marathon stage rules, no outside servicing was permitted at lastnight’s bivouac in Uyuni where the crews were left to their own devices. Allthree Team Peugeot Total crews carried out work on their respective PEUGEOT3008DKRs, including LOEB and ELENA who changed their car’s power steering pump.The PeugeotSport pairings went on to lock out Stage 8’s podium.
 Recent poorweather continued to affect the 2017 Dakar Rally and forced the organisers toshorten the two competitive sections that made up Stage 8 from 492km in totalto 417km, while servicing was exceptionally permitted between today’s two timedruns. Competitors were then blocked by a landslide on the ensuing road sectionto Salta, Argentina, which has also led to the cancellation of Wednesday’sStage 9. The service vehicles aren’t expected to reach the northwest Argentinecity before late into the night.

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In the penultimate stage, from San Juan to Rio Cuarto, Orlando Terranova (ARG) and Andreas Schulz (GER) finished third, thus closing in on Giniel de Villiers – fifth in the overall standings – by several seconds. Meanwhile, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) set the fifth-fastest time, today.

And their team-mates, Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) / Michel Périn (FRA) who struggled with many problems yesterday, crossed the finish line in 11th position, followed by MINI ALL4 Racing pairings Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) / Xavier Panseri (FRA) and Kuba Przygonski (POL) / Tom Colsoul (BEL) who came 12th and 13th respectively.

“We tried to push right from the start,” revealed Terranova. “But the first part of the special stage was very bumpy and sandy. Furthermore, the Peugeots and Toyotas also pushed to the max. And in the second part we also couldn’t go flat out as we were driving in the dust of the motorbikes and quads. We nonetheless succeeded in closing in on Giniel – but only by a few seconds and that wasn’t enough.”

“In the first part of the special stage everything actually went fine. We had a puncture and in addition we unfortunately lost our bonnet. It disengaged in the dune section and ended up below the car,” said Al-Rajhi. “In the neutralisation we snatched an Argentinean flag and covered our radiator with it to prevent it from getting choked.”

“At least our day wasn’t as bad as yesterday,” Hirvonen said laughing. “We had a damaged tyre in the early stage. This section was really bumpy and featured soft sand. It was a constant up and down for the entire 120 kilometres. The second part was really nice. The first kilometres were contested on a tight and winding road and we were really fast, here. Afterwards we unfortunately closed in on several opponents and couldn’t keep on gaining time.”

“This was a really good day” beamed Abu Issa in the bivouac After all, he worked his way up in the overall standings by two positions and holds 10th, now. “The first 120 kilometres featured only sand and our suspension did a great job, today. After the first part we even held 10th position. The second part represented a WRC-like challenge and that was something – I have to admit it – I was somewhat afraid of. But it went really well for me. This is the special stage that saved the Dakar for me.”

Przygonski also could breathe a sigh of relief, following yesterday’s difficult stage. “We had some problems in the early stages but later we could make up for a part of the lost ground,” said the Pole. “This special stage really was big fun for us.”

By finishing 16th, Sylvio de Barros and Rafael Capoani (both BRA) also secured a good result. Stephan Schott (GER) and Paulo Fiúza (POR) finished 21st and worked their way up to the very fine 15th position in the overall standings. Meanwhile, Boris Garafulic (CHI) and Filipe Palmeiro (POR) had problems with their vehicle. The team offered them to get towed through the stage by a race truck what would have allowed them to contest the final stage, tomorrow. But Garafulic, who until then was positioned on a great 7th place in the overall rankings, opted against this possibility and retired from the race action.

Tomorrow, the field will have to contest the final stage of the 2017 Dakar. In the morning, they will have to cope with a short 64-kilometre special stage around Rio Cuarto. Later, the entire field will cover 700 kilometres to Buenos Aires where they all will be celebrated on the finish podium.

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Overdrive Racing and Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa’s six surviving Toyota Hiluxes endured mixed fortunes on a revised eighth special stage between Uyuni in Bolivia and Salta in Argentina on Tuesday.
The two leading Toyotas of Joan Roma and Giniel de Villiers ceded time to their main rivals at the top of the leader board, although Conrad Rautenbach and Erik Van Loon were able to improve their positions in the general classification.
Running with support from Monster Energy, Power Electronics and Air Europa, Roma lost time on the revised first 171km section of the special stage at altitude and reached the finish at PC1 trailing stage leader Loeb by 9min 32sec. He had also ceded time to closest rival Cyril Despres and slipped back to fourth overall.
The Spaniard was able to recoup some of the time in the second half and reached the stage finish in seventh to remain in fourth place. Sébastien Loeb pipped Stéphane Peterhansel to the day’s win to regain a slender overall lead of just 1min 38sec.
Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz began the special third on the road and sixth overall. The South African was a virtual fifth at the finish of section one and had slipped a further 1min 15sec behind fifth-placed rival Mikko Hirvonen. The 2009 winner maintained that position to the end and now trails the Finn by 28min 03sec with four stages remaining before the finish in Buenos Aires on January 14.
Rautenbach and Van Loon climb in their Overdrive Racing Toyotas.


Zimbarwean Conrad Rautenbach and his South African co-driver Robert Howie were a virtual ninth on the opening section to the original PC1 and moved up to 13th overall and maintained a similar position to the stage finish. 
The Dutch crew of Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar also climbed a place to 18th in the general classification on the opening section and reached Salta in 17th overall after passing the German driver Stephan Schott over the closing kilometres.
Alejandro Yacopini and Daniel Merlo completed the last competitive section of this year’s Dakar in Bolivia in 21st overall and crossed the border into their native Argentina in a similar position in the rankings.
The Chinese crew of He Zhitao and Kai Zhao remain on track to fulfil their goal of finishing the Dakar in a Boundless Yong Racing Toyota run by Overdrive Racing. They were delayed before the special this morning when a road collapsed after recent inclement weather in the region.
Additional support for Overdrive Racing comes from Power Electronics and Kappa clothing.
“It really wasn’t a good day for me personally. During the rest day," siad Roma. "our assistance team worked on the car, but the changes haven’t had the impact that we wanted."

"We were able to see on the neutralised section and on the second part of the special that it was better. But, for me and Giniel, we’re lacking power at altitude."

There are still two difficult days and a lot can happen. We’re driving as best we can. We could always take more risks, but we wouldn’t feel safe any more.”

 

         

 

 

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