Autosportfoto

Dakar - Peterhansel takes control

The rally took on a new twist today in the famous Fiambala sand dunes. Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret won the drama-filled stage to take the overall lead with an advantage of an hour over second place. The number 302 crew pushed from start to finish to claim their 35th career stage win on the Dakar together.
• Cyril Despres and David Castera put in another great performance, despite stopping to assist Peterhansel and Cottret on the stage. Their second-fastest stage time allowed the PEUGEOT 2008 DKR to claim a seventh one-two on this Dakar.

• Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz set off this morning in the lead, but had to abandon all hopes of victory today. Thirty kilometres from the end of the stage, the spacer between the engine and the gearbox gave way and the Spanish crew had to wait for their assistance truck. The team is now doing everything it can to make sure that they start again tomorrow.

• Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena had another character-building stage today. They got stuck after the engine stalled and ended up on their roof after coming down from a dune. Nonetheless, they still set fifth-fastest time on the most typical rally raid stage of the 2016 Dakar.

• The stage was shortened after 245 of the 278 scheduled kilometres, due to an overflowing river at the end of the planned route.

Stéphane Peterhansel (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR n°302), stage winner
“We got off to a pretty bad start. We got lost at kilometre 32 and drove around for about 15 minutes. Afterwards, I just went for it because I thought everything was lost anyway. We took some risks and pushed very hard because we knew that this stage would be decisive. This was a proper rally raid stage with tricky navigation, off-piste roads; deep ruts…everything that makes rally raids so demanding. That’s where you make or lose big amounts of time. I had a puncture and I just went like crazy. Today we were a bit out of control. But when we were going, we were going quickly. We’ve made an important step forward in the overall classification. And it’s good to know that Cyril is just behind us to give us a hand. He’s really getting on it now, although that was never his plan at the start, which is great.”

Cyril Despres (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR n°321), 2nd on the stage
“The navigation went well and David did a great job right from the start, when there were bikes, cars and trucks all over the place. I managed to understand what the right pace was today and I really had the impression that it was easier for me to drive my PEUGEOT 2008 DKR now than it was for me to ride my Yamaha two years ago. We drove as far as CP1 and we just wanted to be sure that Carlos and Stéphane were in front of us. We opened the door, and then got bogged down for four minutes when we got going again. But that’s learning. And then we saw Carlos in a river with some big rocks in it…”

Sébastien Loeb (PEUGEOT 2008 DKR n°314), 5th on the stage
“There’s not an awful lot that’s positive we can take from today. I just have to get used to it. It was difficult: complicated in every way even though we had some tracks to follow. For those who were at the front, it must have been really hard. We were on the verge of getting stuck more or less everywhere. The end of the stage was a bit more fun with a few dunes. We lost about 10 minutes looking for a waypoint. We also had a bit of a roll over a dune. After two punctures, a roll, getting stuck and getting lost we still somehow managed to finish fifth!”

Bruno Famin, Peugeot Sport director
“This stage lived up to all its promises, with the order changing all over the place. From our point of view, we’re obviously very pleased to see Stéphane and Jean-Paul make a break for it at the front. They drove an extraordinary stage and managed to benefit from various incidents that affected their rivals. One of those of course was Carlos, who had a technical problem that may or may not have been the result of an impact. We’re now bringing the car back to the bivouac to see if it can start again tomorrow. Second place on the stage for Cyril and David was also a highlight of the day, which they managed to achieve while looking after Stéphane and Jean-Paul as well. It was remarkable day for Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena as well, on a very typical Dakar stage.”

Provisional classification of stage 10 (Belén-La Rioja)
1. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, 3h58min32s
2. Cyril Despres (FRA)/David Castera (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +5min40s
3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS), Toyota Hilux, +12min56
4. Nani Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro Bravo (ESP), Mini All 4 Racing, +14min33s
5. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Daniel Elena (MC), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +17min40s

Provisional overall classification after stage 10
1. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, 32h44min59s
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA), Mini All 4 Racing, + 1h00min00s
3. Giniel De Villiers (ZAF)/Dirk Von Zitzewitz (DEU), Toyota Hilux, +1h12min31s
4. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)/Michel Perin (FRA), Mini All 4 Racing, +1h23min51s
5. Leeroy Poulter (ZAF)/Robert Howie (ZAF), Toyota Hilux, +1h33min58s
6. Cyril Despres (FRA)/David Castera (FRA), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +1h50mins07s
9. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Daniel Elena (MC), PEUGEOT 2008 DKR, +2h27min31s