Dakar 2013 - Official Event Coverage - thank you ALL TeamF5, lurkers and posters!

Mousses For Manny!!!

Ufff - Finally catched up again. Great posts last night! Thanks for telling your stories!

Thanks for your reply, Ned. So the GPS Odo is always visible on the Unik screen? Do you have to fumble pressing keys to make it visible? In aany case that's great, even if you can't increment/decrement. Having a cue to calibrate your roadbook mileage directly in kms.

Confusing. Today seemed to confirm my theory that Faria has been released of watercarrier duty. But at the finish line today he says we'll have to wait for CD tomorrow??? If we wasn't released why did they let him ride loose two stages?? Weird.

On the alleged Marathon - pit stops at the refuelling points??? WTF?? El Dakaro is OK, the race is on, 450's are great, blah blah blah. But this is not right. It's plain stupid.

Jordi Viladoms has experienced its worst day since starting the Dakar 2013. What at first was assumed as a great day, ended up becoming a nightmare for the pilot of Igualada. After completing the first part of the race in fourth place, finished 38th due to a fault in his Husqvarna TE 449 RR in the final stretch.

After five stages following a conservative approach, Viladoms has decided to move to the attack on the sixth lap, held today between Arica and Calama, with 438 km of special divided into two sectors. In the first, the Spaniard has made a strong showing, coming to shoot third ahead of Chilean Francisco Lopez. At intermediate career has been in fourth, 2'37 "of then interim leader, Portuguese Paulo Goncalves.

The impasse created by the link between one sector and another does not sit well with Jordi or, rather, his Husqvarna TE 449 RR. Upon resumption of the special stage, the bike has begun to fail right from the first few miles, forcing Viladoms to slow your pace to get to the goal.

"Today I felt it was the day of attack and all was well until the stretch neutralized. From there, has begun to fail the motorcycle and stopped pulling. I have decided to stand up to change the injector, but still did not exceed 70 km / h. edge. As barely know the mechanics of the Husqvarna I preferred not to touch anything else and focus all my efforts to reach the goal as quickly as possible, "he explained.

The pilot said from Chile that "we were doing a good race and the strategy was correct but some things, such as mechanics, you can not control." Meanwhile, David Clap your mechanic had set to work to find the cause of the fault and fix it tomorrow.

Anyway, Jordi Viladoms not throw in the towel and maintains its firm intention to do battle with the top finishers in how much is left of Dakar: "It is clear that the objectives have changed, but will continue to compete every day to recover all the ground as possible and move up. "

GO!!! Manuel GO!!!

ES1 in moments

Nice summary! We live for this shit

Speedbrain

Dakar 2013, 6th Stage – Arica – Calama
764 km stage (477 miles) including 454 km special test.

Botturi still up with the leaders in Dakar sixth stage

Dakar gets tough now with three tricky stages ahead of 13th January’s rest day at San Miguel de Tucuman. Today saw 454 km (284 miles) of special test split into two sections. Alessandro Botturi really pushed his Husqvarna TE449RR by Speedbrain hard finishing just behind the leaders in fifth place. Alessandro, however slips down to tenth position in the overall standings, due to a fifteen minute penalty imposed after he had his engine changed for precaution ahead of tomorrow’s marathon stage.



Paulo Goncalves pushed hard too but was unlucky. Paulo won the first part of the special a minute ahead of Lopez, but an electrical problem at the start of the second stage caused him to slow down considerably, and he finished some way behind. Jordi Viladoms, who set a tremendous pace in the initial special part amongst the top ten, likewise had difficulties with the TE449RR’s electrics.

Joan Barreda finished the special test in twenty-ninth position after being involved in an ugly crash in the second part of the stage which leaves him nursing a heavily bruised right wrist. Matt Fish is managing to finish the race and solve same technical problems on his bike in order to start again tomorrow.

Alessandro Botturi: ”Well, I’m very pleased. I got past the first three straight away this morning, and I was in control of the stage for most of the special. It really was a long one, very dusty and tiring. But I’m very happy. Yesterday we decided to change the engine ahead of tomorrow’s marathon test.”

Paulo Goncalves: “It was a shame about the electrical problems or I would have easily won the special. I won the first part a minute ahead of Lopez. A couple of kilometres into the second stage I started to experience electrical problems. I lost a lot of time changing the fuses, otherwise I wouldn’t have come in so far back, and I’d have probably won the stage.”

Joan Barreda: “I didn’t push for the whole of the stage, and I just wanted to find the right pace to set for the next few days. I stopped to see if Paulo needed any help, and then set off again. But in all the dust I made a mistake and fell badly. My hand and wrist are hurting a lot. I don’t know if I’ll be able to start tomorrow.”


Result Stage 6:
1. Lopez (CHL, KTM) 3h36m21s
2. Faria (ESP, KTM) +00:02:34
3. Despres (FRA, KTM) +00:03:48
4. Caselli (USA, KTM) +00:04:48
5. Alessandro Botturi (ITA, Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain) +00:05:35
29. Joan Barreda (ESP, Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain) +00:27:33
49. Paulo Goncalves (PRT, Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain) +01:06:42

Overall Standings after six stages:
1. Pain (FRA, Yamaha) 15h35m23s
2. Despres (FRA, KTM) +00:02:22
3. Casteu (FRA, Yamaha) +00:04:48
4. Lopez (CHL, KTM) +00:06:06
5. Faria (PRT, KTM) +00:08:35
10. Alessandro Botturi (ITA, Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain) +00:27:02
27. Paulo Goncalves (PRT, Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain) +01:29:14
48. Joan Barreda (ESP, Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain) +03:39:32

still no word on what his technical issue is... hope he gets in.

Eurosport now

Highlight added.

Progress, at least. Good luck, Matt!

Excellent!

Eurosport says r2r pers only injured as well.

David Casteau is a mega smiley bloke isnt he

F5. So much more than just keeping up with the race. I'm drunk so ill say it: I fucking love this place.

Catch you all tomorrow!

A notable change this year. The sand stages (brilliant btw) at the beginning of the rally, in contrast to most years (even African years) road stages seems to be forcing engine changes. Botturi changed his and I suspect others will tonight as well as a precaution. I'll guess that by rest day most will do one

Thoughts of having one engine last the entire rally have likely changed. Last year several top ten made their engine last the entire race. I don't think (based on f5, france4, etc) it would be feasible this year...


The 15 minute strategy will come into play

?? about Manuel shoe string Lucchese... I understand he only purchased this bike days before it needed to ship...
So was he part of another team that fell apart leaving him to make last minute arrangements to participate ?

Night, Brodo!

Nah keep posting, this is where it gets entertaining

Sleep well Brodo

Day 6 saw 6 more bikes withdrawn..

6 183
PABLO QUINTANILLA (CHL)
HONDA
NOT STARTING
Quintanilla from back injuries

6 175
BOLDBAATAR DAMDINKHORLOO (MNG)
KTM
WITHDRAWAL
6 80
GINTAUTAS IGARIS (LTU)
YAMAHA
WITHDRAWAL
6 182
PAOLO SABBATUCCI (ITA)
YAMAHA
WITHDRAWAL
6 90
GILLES DIGUIET (FRA)
KTM
WITHDRAWAL
6 66
EDUARDO HEINRICH (PER)
HONDA
WITHDRAWAL