Dakar Rally news

SAND STORMS ON SEVENTH STAGE

Friday’s stage was shortened for safety reasons by event organizers. A fierce sandstorm blew at the second passage control and helicopters were unable to fly. Therefore, ASO officials cancelled the last 134km of the special stage. Peterhansel was fastest at the first 216km passage control and duly moved up to third in the overall rankings.

"Again it was a frustrating day for us," said Alphand. "We were on the same pace as the others when we got stuck the first time. That was not a problem, because we deflated the tires, but then we got stuck again.

"We started this morning as the 23rd car," said Masuoka. "It was very difficult to drive in a series of sand storms. In some places the visibility was down to 30 meters. Pascal did a great job on the navigation. I was about to enter the sand dunes and I realized it would have been impossible to get through, so we turned around and deflated the tires. It was a good decision, because we had a clean run through the dunes."

Joan ’Nani’ Roma rolled his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution in sand dunes at the 295km point. No team member was injured in the incident, but the roll cost Roma his place in the top 10.