Autosportfoto

Dakar - Another one-two-three for the Peugeot 2008 DKR!

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena on the PEUGEOT 2008 DKR #314 signed today their third stage win. Starting from the third position, they were already leading at the first waypoint and kept the pace until the finish.
· Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena in the #314 Peugeot 2008 DKR claimed their third Dakar stage victory today. They were in the lead from the first waypoint and made the most of their starting position from third on the road to triumph.

· It was also a third consecutive one-two-three for the Peugeot 2008 DKR, with Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena in front of Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (just 22 seconds behind them) and Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret, three minutes off the winning time. These crews also occupy the provisional podium in the overall classification.


· Cyril Despres and David Castera had a turbo problem during kilometre 140 of the 327-kilometre stage. They were able to reach the bivouac but lost more than one hour in the overall classification.


· There were three important highlights of this leg of the Dakar: the arrival into Bolivia, the end of the marathon stage, and the competitors reaching more than 4600 metres in altitude (the highest altitude in the entire history of the Dakar).


Sébastien Loeb (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR # 314), stage winner
"Yesterday we had to look after the car a bit but today we were able to attack more. Carlos took a bit of time back from us in the last part of the stage. He must have been pushing hard! Daniel did an excellent job today but we know that what's coming next won't be easy. In fact, a lot more complicated. We'll have to be first on the road on stages where the navigation is extremely tricky."


Carlos Sainz (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR # 303), 2nd
"We end the second part of the marathon stage in second place. The car worked well even though there was no service yesterday but tomorrow will be an important day. It's going to be the longest stage of the rally and it will take place at extremely high altitude, which will be a big test for the engines."

Stéphane Peterhansel (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR # 302), 3rd
"It wasn't really a problem to be first on the road today because we're still on quite clearly-marked roads, where navigation isn't so much of an issue. However, we had a small problem coming out of parc ferme. We didn't have all the power from the car at low revs. So we struggled a bit in the first part of the stage, which was very twisty. As a result, we lost a bit of time to the ‘traditional' rallymen like Sebastien and Carlos. Today has been all been about damage limitation really while we wait for better days."


Cyril Despres (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR # 321):
"Everything was going well until kilometre 140, when we felt a loss in power that got progressively worse. And so we finished the stage about an hour and a quarter behind the leaders, whereas we were just within a few minutes of them before the problem. But the main thing is that we're safely back in the bivouac now and able to continue."


Bruno Famin, Peugeot Sport director
"We're obviously very happy to deliver another one-two-three and to have three cars in the top three places overall after the marathon stage. Nonetheless, the problem encountered by Cyril and David is a timely reminder for us to keep our feet on the ground - as well as some small problems that we had with overboost management on Seb's and Stéphane's cars. The only sure thing about this Dakar is that there will be many more trials to come! »

Leg 5 provisional classification (Jujuy-Uyuni Marathon)
1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Daniel Elena (MC), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, 3h32min34s
2. Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Lucas Cruz (ESP), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, + 0min22s
3. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +3min
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA), Mini, + 3min07s
49. Cyril Despres (FRA)/David Castera (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, + 1h15min06s

Provisional overall classification after leg 5
1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Daniel Elena (MC), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, 13h17min25s
2. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, + 7min48s
3. Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Lucas Cruz (ESP), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, + 13min26s
3. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA), Mini, + 14min16s
4. Leeroy Poulter (ZAF)/ Robert Howie (ZAF), Toyota Hilux, + 18min38s
22. Cyril Despres (FRA)/David Castera (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, + 1h31min50s