Caselli (KTM) takes 2nd win on stage 11; great pics

Red Bull KTM factory rider Kurt Caselli (USA), drafted into the Orange factory team to ride the KTM 450 Rally bike of injured teammate Marc Coma on Wednesday picked up his second stage win in his first ever Dakar. Teammates Cyril Despres and Ruben Faria consolidated their 1-2 overall positions after Stage Eleven of the Dakar 2013

Maragni photos

Dakar 2013, étape 11 : Spéciale stoppée par les crues

The 11th Car/Truck stage of the 2013 Dakar was halted at Passage Control 1 (Km83) as a result of flooding in the mountains near Fiambala. The stage win went to Robby Gordon (Hummer), ahead of Ronan Chabot (SMG buggy).

La 11e spéciale du Dakar 2013 a été arrêtée au CP1 (km 83) pour les autos et camions en raison de rios en crue dans les montagnes de Fiambala. La victoire revient à Robby Gordon (Hummer) devant Ronan Chabot (Buggy SMG).

Etape 11 : La Rioja-Fiambala (481 km)

The Catamarca region has been responsible for a few nasty surprises for competitors on this year’s Dakar. Last Saturday’s SS8, which visited the same area, had to be neutralised at Passage Control 2 after numerous drivers were caught out by fast-rising water in several rios. Today, the vehicles were blocked once again by raging torrents, this time to the north of Fiambala.

The organisers took the decision to stop the cars after PC1, just 70km after the new start to the stage which had already been shortened by 32km. Competitors still had a chance to enjoy the first dunes but, after that, they were requested to drive straight to Fiambala via a direct route.

“When we reached the bank of the rio, I saw Novitskiy’s Mini floating backwards in the strong current,” related Guerlain Chicherit after the stage. “That was a little scary, so we drove on for three more kilometres before we found a narrower spot to cross, about seven or eight metres wide. We took a run at it and jumped over the river,” added the former freeride skiing champion!

Leonid Novitskiy spent several minutes caught in the river at Km70 and his co-driver Konstantin Zhilstov was even forced to swim to the bank. This evening, the X-Raid mechanics will have to strip the Russian driver’s Mini entirely so that it can dry out.

Like the Motorbike category, the cars battle was won by an American, namely Robby Gordon (Hummer) who finished ahead of Ronan Chabot (Buggy): “It’s a shame, I was glad to be back in more open territory.” Lucio Alvarez was awarded the day’s third best time.

Stéphane Peterhansel got off to a poor start today but continues to top the leaderboard: “We got lost looking for the best solution up a long climb that had been rutted by the heavy rain.” The Frenchman still enjoys a comfortable advantage over Giniel de Villiers who was the fastest driver over the early part of today’s stage.

Décidément, la région de Catamarca a réservé de mauvaises surprises aux concurrents du Rallye Dakar 2013. Samedi dernier, tout près d’ici, la 8^e spéciale avait été neutralisée au CP2 à cause de rios en colère ayant piégé de nombreux véhicules. Aujourd’hui, c’est à nouveau des torrents infranchissables qui ont bloqué autos et camions au nord de Fiambala, en fond de vallée.

Les organisateurs ont décidé d’arrêter la spéciale après le CP1, c’est-à-dire après seulement 70 km parcourus contre le chronomètre (le départ avait déjà été reculé de 32 km). Les concurrents ont tout de même pu goûter aux 1ères dunes avant de rejoindre Fiambala par une piste directe.

« Quand on est arrivé au bord du rio, j’ai vu la Mini de Novitskiy emportée en marche arrière par les eaux en furie », expliquait Guerlain Chicherit à l’arrivée. « Ca m’a peu refroidi. Alors on a fait un détour 3 km plus loin, à l’endroit où le rio était le plus étroit, entre 7 et 8 mètres. J’ai pris mon élan et on est passé par-dessus. Les sauts, je connais… »

Leonid Novitskiy est resté de longues minutes dans ce rio au km 70. Son copilote Konstantin Zhilstov a même dû nager pour rejoindre la berge. Ce soir, les mécaniciens X-raid vont devoir démonter entièrement la Mini du pilote russe pour un séchage complet.

Comme en Motos, l’étape a été remportée par un Américain. Au CP1, Robby Gordon (Hummer) devançait Ronan Chabot (Buggy) : « C’est dommage, on avait retrouvé les grands espaces que j’aime bien ». Lucio Alvarez est crédité du 3^e temps.

Au classement général, Stéphane Peterhansel reste en tête malgré un mauvais début de spéciale : « On s’est perdus en cherchant la meilleure voie dans une longue montée creusée par les pluies. Demain, plus de rios, mais des dunes et je redoute de rester coincé dans une cuvette » Le Français compte toujours une avance confortable sur Giniel de Villiers, virtuel leader en début de d’étape.

Dakar 2013 – Leg 11: Caselli claims muddy Fiambala stage

The USA’s Kurt Caselli (KTM/Michelin) notched up his second stage win of this year’s Dakar in the mud near Fiambala. Today’s action also saw Cyril Despres extend his overall lead over Faria and Chaleco Lopez.

Leg 11: La Rioja-Fiambala (483km)

For most of the day, it poured down along Ruta 60 between La Rioja and Fiambala, filling the drainage ditches with water. After Tuesday’s heat wave, the riders consequently faced a cocktail of rain and mud over today’s 191km stage, but at least the sandy base prevented the surface from cutting up too badly over the dunes, making life easier for the amateurs. But that was only over the dunes…

“It was muddy for 180km,” reported Cyril Despres, visibly exhausted when we talked to him in the comfort of his camper van at tonight’s bivouac in Fiambala. “At Km120, the rain was very heavy and the muddy sections were about 30 or 40 metres wide. I had to drive along a flooded stream to get past in one place. There was fog, too, and I wasn’t sure of my heading at times. Along with Joan Barreda, I went in the wrong direction right at the beginning. It was an extremely tricky stage, and I’m glad it is over…”

The win went to Kurt Caselli: “I caught Cyril at Km60 and stayed with him to the finish. I went ahead of him but we ran together the rest of the way. It was a bit like motocross in places; I loved it.”

Helder Rodriguez (Honda) ran with the American rider initially but was halted at Km198. Fellow Honda rider Gerard Farres Guel got no further than Km47.

Joan Barreda, Paulo Gonçalves, Chaleco Lopez, Joan Pedrero and Ivan Jakes settled in behind Despres at around Km140 but they then dropped back during the final section, except Gonçalves who went on to post the second best time. “The navigation was quite hard but I didn’t make any mistakes, so it was a good day.”

The provisional leader Cyril Despres is now 13m16s clear of his team-mate Ruben Faria. Lopez is third (+18m8s), ahead of Ivan Jakes (+23m33s) who followed a wrong heading at Km33. Alessandro Botturi (Husqvarna/Michelin) rounds of the Top 5 despite taking a 15-minute penalty following an engine change.

Stage 11 positions:

1, Caselli (KTM), 2h55m1s. 2, Gonçalves (Husqvarna), +4m45s. 3, Despres (KTM), +6m24s. 4, Pedrero (KTM), +10m18s. 5, Lopez (KTM), +10m51s. Etc.

Provisional positions after Leg 11:

1, Despres (KTM), 33h48m29s. 2, Faria (KTM), +13m16s. 3, Lopez (KTM), +18m8s. 4, Jakes (KTM), +23m33s. 5, Botturi (Husqvarna), +29m32s. Etc.

Monte Carlo : Leg 1 Highlights - 2013 WRC Rallye Monte-Carlo

Although he has no plans to contest the entire WRC in 2013, Sébastien Loeb has clearly lost none of his motivation. The first four stages of the Rallye Monte-Carlo saw the Citroën driver leave his rivals gasping for breath, their ranks led by Volkswagen’s Sébastien Ogier who trails by 1m20.3s (!) after almost 140km of competitive action. The third man on tonight’s all-Michelin podium is Loeb’s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen (+1m46.7s).

The snow that swept over much of France during the early part of the week made way for brighter, drier weather today as the 2013 World Rally Championship got under way with two loops of two stages.

Because of the resulting mixed conditions (clear asphalt, ice and snow), however, especially on the two visits to the awesome ‘Le Burzet’ test (SS2 and SS4), nearly all the front-runners (including Loeb!) were relieved to survive what turned out to be one of the most complex days in recent ‘Monte-Carlo’ history.

“There was less snow on Le Burzet than this morning but there were a number of places where you couldn’t tell whether the road was wet or icy. The damp patches appear to be refreezing but you couldn’t be sure,” reported the Frenchman at the end of SS4. “I lost grip in a few places, so I wasn’t completely confident. It’s good to have reached the finish…”

The veteran’s closest chaser tonight is his ex-Citroën team-mate, Sébastien Ogier, who has given Volkswagen an encouraging start to its first full WRC campaign. The Frenchman even led momentarily after SS1 before being passed by Loeb. VW will be pleased that he had a relatively trouble-free run, but Ogier himself spent much of the day repeating that he was concentrating on his own performance and not taking any notice of Loeb’s times…

Citroën’s new number one driver Mikko Hirvonen is third overall, but he rarely showed any real speed. “I really don’t know why,” he said at the end of the day. “I hate these conditions!”

For his first rally back in Citroën colours, Dani Sordo will be hoping for a strong points finish this week and his careful drive was rewarded by provisional fourth place (+2m01.7s), just behind Hirvonen.

Meanwhile, Jari-Matti Latvala is fifth (+2m32.2s) in the second Volkswagen Polo R and would have been challenging for a footing on the podium had he not taken a 30-second penalty for late arrival at the start of SS2. As a result, he is closely chased by Ford/M-Sport’s best-placed representative, Evgeny Novikov (6^th, +2m50.6s).

Tonight’s top 10 is rounded off by Citroën privateer Bryan Bouffier (7^th) and Ford Fiesta WRC drivers Juho Hanninen (8^th), Monte rookie Mads Ostberg (9^th) and Martin Prokop (10^th).

The day’s chief victim was Ford’s Thierry Neuville who crashed out on SS4, while Michal Kosciuszko’s first day of competition in a WRC car was poorly rewarded when his Mini picked up an engine problem. He is 21^st. For information, the ‘Rally2’ ruling does not apply to the Rallye Monte-Carlo, so a driver who retires cannot re-join the next day.