Victory on Stage 2 has taken Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini ALL4 Racing/Michelin) to the top of the order in South America. He was joined on today’s podium by Giniel de Villiers and Ronan Chabot who are now also second and third overall. Al-Attiyah and Sainz dropped 11 and 18 minutes respectively and are 6th and 11th overall.
Leg 2: Pisco-Pisco (327km)
The decisive factor of today’s competition was undoubtedly the Waypoint (WP) at Km74.99. Depending on the type of waypoint (eclipsed, concealed, safety or visible), competitors have to pass within between 200 metres and 3km of the specified GPS coordinates. Today’s 242km stage featured seven such WPs.
This morning, a number of bikers had trouble triggering the Waypoint at Km74.99, and the car competitors had difficulty with it, too. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Buggy) dropped more than 10 minutes and described it as a ‘closed’ WP which only appeared on his GPS 50km further on. His team-mate and overnight leader Carlos Sainz suffered the same fate, dropping 18 minutes in all.
At the end of the stage, co-drivers Lucas Cruz, Timo Gottschalk and Jean-Paul Cottret got together with their road books to try to identify the reason for the problem. “We hesitated and got a little lost, but we didn’t panic and we found the correct route before the others,” said Stéphane Peterhansel calmly while observing the co-drivers’ deliberations. “Even so, it was a tough day…”
The stage win ended up in the hands of last year’s Dakar winner who finished 2m38s clear of Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Hilux/Michelin). “Today was more complex than I was expecting, with lots of sand and little visibility,” reported the South African. “I didn’t start well, but I went better over the second part of the stage.”
The 2009 Dakar winner has moved up to second overall, ahead of Frenchman Ronan Chabot who delivered another surprising performance in his two-wheel drive SMG buggy. “Just starting the stage in fifth position today, in the middle of all the factory drivers, was a dream come true. We were competitive with the 4x4 cars over the dunes but then we veered a little too much to the left. We found ourselves just behind Peterhansel and we followed him to the finish.”
Third fastest for Chabot was sufficient for him to gain a footing on the provisional podium, but his team-mate Guerlain Chicherit was forced to replace his SMG buggy’s rear transmission on the stage: “We had to cover the last 100km at reduced speed.”
Argentina’s Orlando Terranova (BMW X3 CC) was fourth, chased by Russian Novitskiy (Mini). Lucio Alvarez (7th, Toyota) was delayed by unseated tyres, one of which occurred after a small ‘off’. Meanwhile, Poland’s Holowczyc (Mini) dropped about 10 minutes after getting lost.
The Truck class was won again by Gerard De Rooy (Iveco/Michelin), 1m1s clear of Loprais and 7m52s faster than the ex-World Rally Champion Miki Biasion (Iveco/Michelin).
Stage 2 classification:
1, Peterhansel/Cottret (Mini), 2h35m38s. 2, De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota), +2m35s. 3, Chabot/Pillot (Buggy), +3m52s. 4, Terranova/Fluza (BMW), +5m26s. 5, Novitskiy/Zhilstov (Mini), +9m33s. Etc.
Provisional positions after Leg 2:
1, Peterhansel/Cottret (Mini), 3h0m20s. 2, De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota), +2m38s. 3, Chabot/Pillot (Buggy), +2m46s. 4, Terranova/Fluza (BMW), +6m26s. 5, Novitskiy/Zhilstov (Mini), +9m33s. Etc.
