After the rain and cooler temperatures of Bolivia, it was the time for a change in weather and landscape again: in the first stage in Argentina the day was mostly about the dunes in over 40 degrees in shade – and between 50 and 60 degrees in the car. In such conditions, Tomas and David had a tough but successful day.
Tomas Ourednicek finally felt happy about the stage: “The stage was very tough, very tricky, but the car was running like a dream. The engineers have found the root of our problems: all our difficulties in the past stages were caused by a lambda sensor. This was solved and today we were able to really enjoy racing.
In the first of today’s two specials we met Martin Prokop who was at standstill about five kilometres from CP1 with broken alternator, so we towed him to there. Later we helped one of the Can-Am crews, and then we found Hennie De Klerk being stuck. We tried to help him, too, but we ended up getting stuck, too, and with that we lost some time.
The deep sand with vegetation was really tricky, and very hard on the car. But the worst about the stage was that for the last sixty kilometres we had to drive in dark. I think it’s not really fair to send the second half of the field in such a complicated stage in the evening! I’m afraid many teams can ‘enjoy’ some night racing tonight…
Our result could have been a bit better, but we are still pleased with it because for tomorrow’s ‘Super Fiambalá’ stage good starting position is vital. The race is really enjoyable when the car is running well, so we are looking forward to the next special.”
His co-driver David Kripal was not less enthusiastic: “Navigation was very tricky today, the organisers really wanted the co-drivers to sweat, but we were able to find the points. The stage was very nice, really amazing, and we had no technical problem, so we enjoyed the day.”
On Wednesday, the teams will tackle the so called ‘Super Fiambalá’ stage. The 280 km special of the 746 km stage between Belén and Chilecito will feature majestic dunes, soft sand and heat – a perfect combination for a beautiful but tough day…
