Transiberian Rally. Day 3
NANI ROMA MAINTAINS HIS LEAD AT THE TRANSIBERIAN
RALLY AFTER TODAY'S SECOND STAGE
Luc Alphand secures his second position. Stéphane
Peterhansel lost an hour when he skidded off the track, and
is now eleventh in the general classification
After the dispute for the second stage, Repsol driver Nani
Roma still leads the Portugese test, with a 25-second advantage
over teammate Luc Alphand. Bad fortune crossed Stéphane
Peterhansel's path today, as his aspirations of a victory
were dashed when he finished 55 minutes behind Roma, who commands
the general classification behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi
Montero Evolution MPR14 Diesel.
The rain fallen last night forced the organisers to shorten
the special the drivers had to run through twice, one in the
morning and the other at midday after a quick stop. In the
end, two runs on a 73-kilometre loop- style timed special,
characterised by the tough conditions and the demands of a
very slippery track. In spite of a faulty component in his
turbo, “Nani” Roma managed to keep up a fast pace
and held his lead in the general classification, preceding
Alphand, who stands as his main competitor in this race.
Peterhansel skidded off the track during the first special,
and his car got trapped in a hole ten metres below the track.
In the end, and after placing stones under the wheels of his
Mitsubishi Montero Evolution MPR13, Peterhansel managed to
rejoin the race, conceding just over an hour in this fourth
special to Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner of today's stage. The
instructions today for Alphand and Roma were to maintain a
fast pace though without taking too many risks, as the aim
is to avoid mistakes and maintain the 25-minute margin they
have over the third classified, Portugese driver Filipe Campos.
Tomorrow there will be two more specials -204km- which will
take the caravan to Évora, back in Portugal.
Quotes
"Nani" Roma >> 1st, 7h 35mins 30secs,
“This morning's special was very delicate and very dangerous,
because it was extremely slippery. What's more, we tried out
some tyres with a new composition and it was hard getting
used to them. It rained all night and there were some very
muddy areas, so we were quite careful, because it was dangerous.
A part belonging to the turbo broke during the first special
and the car lost a lot of power. Then I started to drive more
carefully, without pushing it too hard, taking more advantage
of the momentum and avoiding mistakes. I enjoyed myself a
lot and to be honest I was surprised I'm still in the lead,
because the turbo wasn't working and I thought we'd lost more
time. I'm happy to be in the lead, because we were unable
to fix it at midday and had to run the second special with
the same problem.
Luc Alphand >> 2nd at 25 secs,
“This afternoon we tried to attack some more, because
in the morning I saw it was very slippery and dangerous. In
the first special I tried to maintain my pace avoiding any
risks, and in the afternoon I went a bit faster, but there
was no point in taking risks to try and win the stage, because
Nasser is 43 minutes behind us and is not a threat.
We're still doing well and we're going to try and win the
rally, not the stages. Let's hope it doesn't rain tomorrow,
because the track can get very complicated and very dangerous,
so let's hope we run a good stage.”
Stéphane Peterhansel >> 11th at 1h04mins
21secs,
“I went off the track in a very fast area. Today's special
was very slippery, and I skidded down a very big ditch, with
a slope of about ten metres, and got trapped in a hole, with
two wheels jammed. We had to make a pile of stones to get
the car out and lost over an hour.
It's a shame, because after the puncture yesterday the problems
seem to have piled up, and it's a very fun rally, with very
technical tracks which I really like. We'll try to recover
as many positions as we can, and work on improving the car,
concentrating on the suspension and the setup.”
Results
>> STAGE 3
Special 1
1. AL ATTIYAH - THÖRNER (BMW) 1:04:50
2. ROMA - CRUZ SENRA (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 00.57
3. ALPHAND - PICARD (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 01:05
4. GRANCHA - RAMALHO (NISSAN) at 05:08
5. OLIVEIRA - MARQUES (NISSAN) at 6:15
44. PETERHANSEL - COTTRET (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 1:04:43
Special 2
1. AL ATTIYAH - THÖRNER (BMW) 1:03:05
2. PETERHANSEL - COTTRET (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 00:23
3. ALPHAND - PICARD (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 01:16
4. ROMA - CRUZ SENRA (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 01:23
5. CAMPOS - BAPTISTA (BMW) at 04:12
>> RALLY
1. ROMA - CRUZ SENRA (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) 7:35:30
2. ALPHAND - PICARD (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 00:25
3. CAMPOS - BAPTISTA (BMW) at 25:10
4. NOVISTSKY - TYUPENKIN (BMW) at 34:53
5. TERRANOVA - PALMER (BMW) at 35:19
11. PETERHANSEL - COTTRET (REPSOL MITSUBISHI) at 01:04:21
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