Altitude takes toll on SA team
PEUGEOTS ARE 300KG LIGHTER THAN OUR CARS Toyota’s top driver lies fifth overall in gruelling Dakar race.
Though they benefited from the change of surface, with the race shifting from the soft sand dunes of Peru to the hard gravel tracks of Bolivia, South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers admits the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team struggled at altitude on the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally.
De Villiers was hanging on ahead of yesterday’s rest day, midway through the two-week battle.
He finished fourth on Thursday’s sixth leg, covering the 313km timed section less than six minutes off the pace of Spaniard Carlos Sainz who won the stage for the powerful Peugeot outfit.
Having delivered consistent performances so far, De Villiers was lying fifth overall.
“We certainly felt the power deficit,” he said.
“In the end it was the fact that those (Peugeot) buggies are more than 300kg lighter than our car. That made the biggest difference.”
French driver Stephane Peterhansel continued to lead the general classification, over 27 minutes clear of team-mate Sainz, as Peugeot tightened their grip.
The local Toyota Gazoo team filled the next three places, however, with Dutchman Bernhard ten Brinke lying third and Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah in fourth position overall, one spot ahead of De Villiers.
Meanwhile, Argentine driver Lucio Alvarez was in 14th place overall for the Overdrive Toyota team, supported by South African navigator Rob Howie, as they continued to claw their was back into contention despite rolling their vehicle on stage two.
The SA duo of Hennie de Klerk and Gerhardt Schutte were still working hard further back in the field in their Volkswagen, hanging on to 32nd position in the general classification ahead of today’s marathon seventh stage.
All four South African competitors were also putting up a fight in the bike division, spearheaded by David Thomas in 49th position on his Husqvarna.