· Al-Rajhi officially disqualified
Following the second, unintended, “rest day” at Salta, Argentina, the Dakar train today travelled to Belen. Over 70 percent of the 373 kilometres, the competitors once again had to cope with sand and dunes. The entire special stage represented an extreme challenge for the navigators. Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) took their MINI John Cooper Works Rally to sixth position, with Orlando ‘Orly’ Terranova and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue (both ARG) in a second MINI JCW Rally finishing eighth. Meanwhile, Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and Andreas Schulz (GER) in a MINI John Cooper Works Buggy came ninth and Boris Garafulic (CHI) / Filipe Palmeiro (POR) secured 11th place, with their MINI JCW Rally.
“It was a tough and exhausting day,” admitted Przygonski. “The navigation was extremely difficult but Tom did a great job. The track was demanding for the body as it featured a lot of camel grass, holes and bumps that gave us a good shaking.” The young Pole still holds sixth position overall.
“We unfortunately had some navigation problems,” revealed Terranova. “Therefore, I really pushed in the second half of the stage but we weren’t able to make up for the lost ground.”
Hirvonen still is really happy with the competitiveness of his MINI JCW Buggy. “The buggy once again ran really well, today,” said the Finn. “Unfortunately, the automatic tyre-pressure control still doesn’t work and so, we lost some time in the first part of the stage. Later we had to look for the first waypoint. All in all it doesn’t matter for the overall standings but we want to secure good stage results.”
After today's stage, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) were officially disqualified by the stewards. The Saudi had missed too many waypoints on the seventh leg. The race director took him out of the race for the eighth special stage without having the competence for this decision. That is why Al-Rajhi was officially disqualified only today after he finished the stage.
Tomorrow’s 11th stage will take the field to Chilecito. A part of the drivers will start into the stage in a special procedure, the so-called ‘Super Fiambalá’: the top 10 of the motorbike and the car standings as well as the top five of the trucks will start in mixed order according to their times set in stage 10. In addition, 70 percent of the 280-kilometre stage will feature the famous dunes of Fiambalá.
Dakar 2018 Result SS10
1. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) Peugeot – 4h 43m 46s
2. G. de Villiers (RSA) / D. von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 4h 52m 32s
3. C. Sainz (ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) Peugeot – 4h 56m 53s
4. K. Al Qassimi (UAE) / X. Panseri (FRA) Peugeot – 5h 02m 57s
5. B. Ten Brinke (NDL) / M. Périn (FRA) Toyota – 05h 06m 08s
6. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 5h 07m 28s
... 8. O. Terranova (ARG) / R. Graue (ARG) MINI JCW Rally – 5h 10m 45s
9. M. Hirvonen (FIN) / A. Schulz (GER) MINI JCW Buggy – 5h 11m 27s
… 12. B. Garafulic (CHI) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI JCW Rally – 5h 20m 37s
Dakar 2018 Overall result after SS10
1. C. Sainz (ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) Peugeot – 32h 10m 53s
2. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) Peugeot – 33h 01m 28s
3. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 33h 23m 39s
4. B. Ten Brinke (NDL) / M. Périn (FRA) Toyota – 33h 33m 08s
5. G. de Villiers (RSA) / D. von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 33h 33m 41s
6. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 34h 40m 04s
... 14. M. Hirvonen (FIN) / A. Schulz (GER) MINI JCW Buggy – 41h 38m 19s
20. B. Garafulic (CHI) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI JCW Rally – 43h 37m 10s
22. O. Terranova (ARG) / R. Graue (ARG) MINI JCW Rally – 50h 05m 28s
