· Tomorrow the Dakar will be finished in Cordoba
The penultimate stage took the Dakar train to the city of Cordoba that also will be the venue of the final stage of this legendary event. The 369-kilometre special stage represented a true challenge and resulted in changes in the overall standings. Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul finished fourth, right ahead of Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and Andreas Schulz (GER) who clinched fifth place in their MINI John Cooper Works Buggy. Boris Garafulic (CHI) and Filipe Palmeiro (POR) came seventh, in a MINI JCW Rally. Orlando ‘Orly’ Terranova and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue (both ARG) took their MINI JCW Rally to 14th place.
In today’s stage, Przygonski and Colsoul succeeded in also working their way up to fifth place in the overall standings as Bernhard Ten Brinke was forced into retirement by an engine failure. “We are sorry for what happened to Ten Brinke,” said Przygonski. “He was very fast. Today’s stage was really exhausting. The second part was very similar to WRC stages and a lot of fun. Nonetheless, we had to be attentive all the time as we had to pass several quads and motorbikes.”
In the early stages, Terranova and Graue got stuck in a hole. Hirvonen also got bogged down for a short time, there, but thanks to the help of his Argentinean team-mates he got going again a short time later and returned the favour by helping them out of the hole, too. “I was slightly too slow when I passed them as it was very, very narrow,” explained Hirvonen. “But we could help each other. Apart from that the racing was really fun today. In the second part I drifted through the corners all the time. I think the spectators enjoyed the action.”
Tomorrow, the competitors will have to contest the 14th and last stage in a loop around Cordoba. The final 120 kilometres will take the field across some 30 riverbeds and consequently has got what it takes to make for a lot of excitement.
Dakar 2018 result SS13
1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 5h 02m 22s
2. L. Alvarez (ARG) / R. Howie (RSA) Toyota – 5h 13m 38s
3. G. de Villiers (RSA) / D. von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 5h 15m 28s
4. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 5h 17m 29s
5. M. Hirvonen (FIN) / A. Schulz (GER) MINI JCW Buggy – 5h 21m 46s
... 7. B. Garafulic (CHI) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI JCW Rally – 5h 25m 03s
... 14. O. Terranova (ARG) / R. Graue (ARG) MINI JCW Rally – 5h 50m 17s
Dakar 2018 overall standings afterSS13
1. C. Sainz (ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) Peugeot – 47h 46m 30s
2. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 48h 32m 48s
3. G. de Villiers (RSA) / D. von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 49h 06m 30s
4. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) Peugeot – 49h 14m 38s
5. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 50h 33m 02s
... 13. B. Garafulic (CHI) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI JCW Rally – 60h 33m 52s
... 19. M. Hirvonen (FIN) / A. Schulz (GER) MINI JCW Buggy – 64h 02m 10s
20. O. Terranova (ARG) / R. Graue (ARG) MINI JCW Rally – 66h 34m 44s
