Jan 14th, 2014 Dakar Rally Stage 9 Race Info & Discussion

Join in and discuss all the action from Stage 9 of the 2014 Dakar Rally. After starting 56th, Robby Gordon had a great stage 8 and finished 10th. Gordon is now 24th overall. Robby Gordon will begin stage 9 at TBA

 

2014 Stage 8 Photos


STAGE 9 TRACKING


STAGE 9: CALAMA > IQUIQUE

Connection 29km | Special Stage 422km | Total 451km

 

COURSE OVERVIEW

The 2014 Dakar will reach its most northern point in Iquique, where the competitors will see the ocean for the first time this year. Above all, the drivers and teams will discover the Atacama Dunes again after a first part of a special stage which will be rather tedious. Dune specialists will be in command over a distance of almost 150km. Thrills will be guaranteed at the very end of the day, on the last three kilometres of the descent to Iquique: there is more than a 30% difference in height from start to finish and it is almost not recommended to break. The law of gravitation takes on its full meaning: the bivouac is not far away!


The GREEN section of the route is the connection , the RED is the Special Section of the stage.

 

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That is just Awesome!

631km special stage 10th for tomorrow. OMG!!

This has been a tough year from Robby. But separate from this, do you guys think the Mini's are better than ever too? The fact that they have eleven Mini's (and one BMW somewhere), says something about the effort the BMW X-Raid team has put into the Dakar this year.

It's laughable now to recall the complaining of the Mini team captain about the unfair advantage of the 2wd's. Today we got to see yet again, one more advantage to the 12 car team. Blocking. At least I think this might have been the case, based on the comments posted during the stage.

siempre lo dije esa era la muralla de minis, pero deberían de partir en tiempos diferentes y asi evitar los bloqueos, pero verán que el próximo año llamaran a toyotires para hacerse eternos en el dakar

Translated:
I always said that was the wall of minis, but they should depart at different times and thus avoid deadlock, but next year will be called to Toyotires to become eternal in dakar

I think the complaints were against the ASO for putting more restrictions on the Mini's last year. They were actually faster in the past.

I remember the Minis first years with the VW Touregs haulin the mail. The old X-Raid teams.
When BMW gets tired of the costs Toyota looks to be gearing up. Haval could be another.
I'm surprised Polaris hasn't run more pub on it's efforts.
I guess the smaller rigs loose out to the big teams & ASO coverage that only touches on the rest of the field.
Anna Seel & The Aussie in the Polaris #366 got a nice bit of video only to pop the motor the next day.

This is one very pissed off Robby Gordon and this will give him the drive to be the come back kid....
We are with you Robby so keep on SPEEDing.

Today's stage 9th has been one of the toughest of the rally, due to the dry rivers and fes fes, and dunes, ... said on tv

...so not too bad stage for Robby

Sainz broke the chassis on the suspension link, and Despres arrived with only 1 litre left on the tank, just two examples of the difficulty of the 9th

Javier, point taken. It seem to be a particularly tough course this year. At least that's the vibe of what we here in the broadcast.

But on the other hand, there were suppose to be sections in today's course that are suited to the Gordini.

I find it interesting that the Mini's seem to do well in the tougher stuff. - and I wonder what tough is? Rocky, rutted climbing and downhills? Fesh-fesh? Soft steep dunes? All of the above?

In one of the videos, BJ made a point about Baja being rougher than the Dakar routes, that this is what makes Dakar different, compared to what he's use to. This is hard for me to imagine. I think BJ has this backwards. Dakar is not hard on the equipment. It terrorizes it!

That, and what RG's said many times - The Baja is one day, Dakar is 13. That is what gets you.

may the speed be with you

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