De Villiers closes on Peterhansel in Hungary

Mitsubishi’s Stephane Peterhansel saw his gap closed today by Ginel de Villiers for the Volkswagen team. Peterhansel holds nine Dakar event titles with his win in the legendary cross-country rally in January 2007. Now he is attempting to land the first victory in the newly formed Dakar Series. The inaugural event, Central Europe Rally, is being held in Hungary and Romania.

De Villiers would like to turn things around and take the lead but one stage at a time. “Now I’m only two minutes behind Peterhansel, and though it isn’t easy to make up time on him, I’m going to try my best to do so. If we can avoid problems, like yesterday and this morning, it might be possible, we’ll see what happens”.

Wednesday, stage 4, saw the competitors leave Romania and return to the Hungarian plains. It also was the longest stage with a distance of 580-km. The special was 150-km in total but split in two timed runs. The first was 62-km once they reached Dabas along the same route they took on Sunday, backwards.

They then did the caravan route to a military base near Vezsprem to start the 88-km challenge on a trek that included quite roads and muddy tracks filled with bumps. The change in terrain along with changing conditions allowed those who have experience to gain time while others lost time or developed mechanical problems.

Peterhansel and his navigator Jean-Paul Cottret did not fare well which cost them time, the Pajero EVO duo ended sixth. De Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz placed third but it was their Volkswagen teammate who might have used his World Rally skills to take the fourth stage victory.

“Even though this was the second time we’ve been over it, this morning the special at Dabas wasn’t in such a bad state and it was quite nice to drive. As for this afternoon, it was a 90-km special on a fairly limited terrain,” Peterhansel said. “As a result, we got tangled up with other competitors and it was quite stressful, especially since the wind hand blown away some of the signs so it was quite easy to get lost. All in all, I’m really happy now that’s finished and it’s over with”.

Carlos Sainz and Michel Perrin ran both specials for a best Car category time of 1 hour, 37 minutes in their Race Touareg 2. They had only a six second edge over the Nasser Al Attiyah and Tina Thorner in a BMW X3 CC.

“I had a good day today. This morning the track was full of groves and the sand was quite soft, but it was okay,” Sainz said. “This afternoon, I really went on the attack and again everything was perfect until we made a small navigation mistake, which lost us around 50 seconds”.

On two-wheels sans the co-pilot navigator, the Bike category is without doubt the one with highest demands on an individual competitor because placing one wheel wrong and/or not seeing the sudden change in the terrain can end ones event. Today, four riders added their name to the retirement list, bringing the list to six versus two cars and not one single truck out of the Central Europe race.

Still holding the overall Bike lead is David Casteu, the KTM rider admits that today was not his best run. Actually, he finished fifth. His edge over Jaroslav Katrinak, also on a KTM, is just shy of 90 seconds.

“Personally, I found the second special really difficult, and I gave myself one hell of a fright with a nasty fall over the bumps. I was a little dazed so it was hard to pick up the pace again,” admitted Casteu of his error.

“What’s more, there were lots of tracks criss-crossing, so I really had to follow the road-book carefully and it was a little bit tricky. Still, I’ve kept hold of the lead and that’s the most important thing. Now I’m going to have to concentrate for the rest of the race,” he added. “I’m not in a position to control the race, but it’s the first time I’ve been in the lead in a rally like this and it’s a bit hard to deal with. I tend to try too hard and as a result I’m a bit too aggressive on the bike, so I’m going to try and relax a little more for the last few stages”.

Katrinak kept second with a finish of second on today’s route behind stage four winner Cyril Despres. Riding his KTM 600, Despres made up ground to the overall and moved into fourth overall, over 11 minutes adrift.

“In the end, the special wasn’t at all how I thought it would be. There was absolutely no need to navigate, because the route was marked out with yellow tape everywhere. In fact, it was a 90-km endurance special stage,” said Despres. “As a result, I was a bit disappointed, because I was hoping to navigate well and climb back up the general standings, but it wasn’t possible. That said, I’ve still won the stage, but it’s a shame because I know Katrinak isn’t a good navigator, so there would have been an opportunity to make up some ground”.

Francisco Lopez, KTM LC4, holds third overall. “The special was very difficult today and I almost fell after 5 km, so I decided to slow the pace and be cautious. In fact, it’s a tactic that I’m going to use until the end of the rally. On this rally I’m trying out a new bike, which is heavier and more powerful, and also a new team, so it’s really important for me to reach the finishing line. I don’t want to spoil everything by going on the attack”.

The heavy trucks are having a contest of their own with the Dutch MAN team holds a sixteen minute edge over their fellow countrymen in a Ginaf.

“The stage was very difficult today because we encountered plenty of small problems. First of all, after 2 km, I was trapped behind a car that was stuck in the middle of the track and I had to stop,” said an exasperated overall Truck leader Hans Stacey. “Next, we had to overtake Ales Loprais, and as he tried to pull over he skidded as well and blocked the route! We had to wait for him to get out of the way to get past.

“Then finally, just before the end of the special our time card was blown out of the window and we had to stop and look for it in the grass! So, this afternoon, I really drove carefully in the second special because it was easy to go quickly but there was also the danger of breaking the truck over the bumps. Now I’ve got a lead of 16′34″, which probably means I could get away with having two punctures before the rest catch up with me. So I’ll have to go on the attack again tomorrow”.

The Quad category is making its debut in the first Dakar Series. Hubert Deltrieu is the current category leader on a Polaris.

“This morning I managed to catch up with Irimescu when I saw that he had fallen. I stopped, but he waved me on is if he was okay, so I carried on,” said Deltrieu. “I had a bit of trouble regaining my pace, because I knew that I was going have a big lead in the general standings. However, this afternoon, I really went on the attack, mainly because I was really enjoying myself on the quad.”

Tomorrow will offer a new challenge with a 210-km special divided into two parts. Stage five will open with a short jot before the longest timed section of 157-km in this year’s event. After two more connections, the riders and drivers take on a second timed special of 54-km. The Trucks will not run the second special, instead they will again run a loop on the same tracks as the first stage.

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Orlando Motors Sport üzerinde şu anda okumakta olduğunuz 'De Villiers closes on Peterhansel in Hungary' isimli yazı 24 Apr 2008 tarihinde, saat: 19:08 'de admin tarafından gönderilmiş.

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