Dakar Rally news

Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart applied fierce pressure on leaders Volkswagen on the punishing 589km special between Atar and Tichit. One hundred and twenty-seven of the original 180 starters left the start.

"I had two punctures today after just 30km," groaned Peterhansel. "We had one after six kilometers, we were stuck after 22km and then another flat tire again at 28km. What a start to a 589km stage! With a full tank of fuel and spare parts, the car was very heavy on the big rocks, so we always ran a risk of flat tires. It was also difficult to cross the dunes with a heavy car.

"It was a tough and very long stage," said Alphand. "In total, we stopped five times. But a big positive is that there are no problems at all with the car for the Marathon stage."

Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon were forced to stop at the 25km point with clutch problems. Despite the quick-change technology, they still lost 1h 19m changing the clutch and replacing no less than four flat tires. "I am very disappointed after the rest day when the whole car was rebuilt”, said Masuoka. “’Nani’ stopped and gave me one tire and then I drove 500km with no spare tires, but this is life."