Top 20 Dakar Rally Overall Standings After Stage 6

Here are the top 20 overall standings for the 2009 Dakar Rally after stage 6. Robby sits 6th overall, 1 hour and 11 minutes behind,after Attiyah gets kicked out.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by TOG on January 8, 2009 at 4:04pm

There is speculation that Al Attiyah could possibly get a penalty,however Robby still wouldn't improve his overall position and the BEST he could be would be 1 hour 12 minutes back.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by soylent_green on January 8, 2009 at 4:08pm

Al Attiyah is thinking best case 2 hour penalty, worse case he is out mechanically.

Qatar's Al Attiyah faces nervous Dakar wait, Luc Alphand pulls out

From correspondents in Mendoza, Argentina
January 09, 2009

QATAR'S Nasser Al Attiyah consolidated his Dakar Rally lead, but then faced the embarrassing prospect of being stripped of victory after he missed a control point.

The BMW driver went into the sixth stage, a shortened 178km run from San Rafael, with a 2min 24sec lead over South African Volkswagen driver Giniel De Villiers.

But he could be penalised two hours after recognising he skipped the mandatory time control point.

If that happens, De Villiers, who finished the stage 5min 7sec behind the Qatari in second spot, would become the overall race leader.

“We missed a way point. Due to the engine overheating, we couldn't go through the dunes. The temperature rose to 120 degrees,'' explained Al Attiyah, the rally-raid world champion.

“The engine stopped and I preferred to choose a different route and avoid the dunes. We missed a way point before reaching CP1. When we push too hard, the engine temperature gets too high.

“It should have been repaired on Wednesday. If we can't repair this problem, then we won't be able to carry on. It's bad news, but we'll have to wait and see.''

De Villiers, said he was happy with his race despite a few early problems.

“It was quite tricky in the beginning in the dunes. A few times we had to turn around because we couldn't make it up some dunes. In some places it was very soft,'' said the Volkswagen driver.

Meanwhile, Luc Alphand, the 2006 winner, pulled out of the race, delivering another blow to defending champions Mitsubishi.

The Frenchman gave up when co-driver Gilles Picard became ill.

“At 12km, they were stuck in mud and they wanted to use boards to get them free, but Gilles Picard was sick,'' said team spokesman Masatoshi Teshima.

“Luc opted to call control for a helicopter and Picard was airlifted to the bivouac at San Rafael. But his condition is good.''

Alphand, a former alpine ski champion, was lying eighth overall in the standings at the start of the day, over 40 minutes behind Al-Attiyah.

His withdrawal followed that of Mitsubishi teammate Hiroshi Masuoka, the winner in 2002 and 2003, who was forced out after the first stage when his vehicle developed engine trouble.

Defending champion Cyril Despres clinched the motorcycle section of the stage.

France's Despres, who was also the 2005 winner, finished 2min 9sec ahead of overall leader Marc Coma of Spain with Jordi Viladoms, also of Spain, 5min 15sec back.

In the overall standings, Coma leads Jonah Street of the United States, who gave up more than 10 minutes to the Frenchman, by 40min 29sec, with France's David Fretigne, in third, 47min 30sec back.

Thursday's stage was shortened from 394km to 178km after just 230 of the 410 vehicles involved made the connection after the punishing fifth stage on Wednesday which also witnessed the withdrawal of more than 30 vehicles.

A flooded river ford also meant the stage had to be trimmed.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24890626-23209,00.html

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by TOG on January 8, 2009 at 4:19pm

ok, so RG could move into 6th overall,but he would still be over an hour back. Thats workable!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by FlyHiFlyLo on January 8, 2009 at 4:23pm

Yes his penatly will be at least 2 hours... That is what Peterhanzel got a 2 years ago. I'm sure Mitsubishi will expect the same.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by fred on January 8, 2009 at 4:38pm

when will they know about the penalty ?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by LongTime on January 8, 2009 at 5:51pm

out of the race. 302 in is the withdrawal list. Moves RG up to 6th

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brad on January 8, 2009 at 4:45pm

Do we know what happened to RG today? What problems did he have?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by FlyHiFlyLo on January 8, 2009 at 6:15pm

I have a guess he may have followed Al la ala and had to go back so he didn't miss the way point? Or Muddddd

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by soylent_green on January 8, 2009 at 6:55pm

Al-Attiyah didn't withdraw. He was kicked out. Missed 9 waypoints. He had said one. Guess he can't count. Ouch.

Dakar Rally leader Al Attiyah kicked out, Alphand pulls out

MENDOZA, Argentina (AFP) — Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah saw his Dakar Rally hopes crushed on Thursday when he was kicked off the gruelling event which had already been scarred by the controversy surrounding the death of a competitor.

The BMW driver, who won the first and third stages and led the overall standings by over seven minutes, skipped nine mandatory way points as his car threatened to overheat on the shortened 178km run from San Rafael.

South Africa's Giniel De Villiers, who was second on the day, was promoted to stage winner and inherited the overall lead ahead of the race making its way into Chile on Friday.

The rules of the race state that each way point missed - up to four - leads to a two-hour penalty; a fifth in succession means exclusion.

Al Attiyah's premature exit came just hours after 2006 champion Luc Alphand withdrew when his co-driver fell ill.
...

Al Attiyah, the reigning rally-raid world champion, went into Thursday's stage with a 2min 24sec lead over Volkswagen driver De Villiers who came home 5min 7sec behind the Qatari.

"We missed a way point. Due to the engine overheating, we couldn't go through the dunes. The temperature rose to 120 degrees," explained Al Attiyah before his exclusion.

"The engine stopped and I preferred to choose a different route and avoid the dunes. We missed a way point before reaching CP1. When we push too hard, the engine temperature gets too high."

De Villiers admitted he was happy with his race despite a few early problems.

"It was quite tricky in the beginning in the dunes. A few times we had to turn around because we couldn't make it up some dunes. In some places it was very soft," said the Volkswagen driver.

Alphand's decision to pull out dealt another blow to defending champions Mitsubishi.

The Frenchman gave up when co-driver Gilles Picard became ill at the 12km stage as their car became stuck in mud.

Alphand's withdrawal followed that of Mitsubishi teammate Hiroshi Masuoka, the winner in 2002 and 2003, who was forced out after the first stage when his vehicle developed engine trouble.
...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h4zIT2GTWAZ_crG1...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by gorobbygo7 on January 8, 2009 at 8:21pm

Guess they take cheating very seriously, GOOD. If this was CRAPCAR and the driver was Jeffie or Juyner, they would remove that page from the "rulebook"