Summarize

Al the action courtesy TreasuryOne

DAKAR 2018 DAY 12 LIVE - Thursday 18 January: Chilecito to San Juan, Argentina
Bikes start 13h00 SA time; cars 13h00
Today's stage: 793km, Special: 523km. Altitude 1300-3300m ASL
Come back here to follow the action as it unfolds today

PLEASE REFRESH PAGE REGULARLY FOR LATEST UPDATE


20h30 Day's Stage

THE NASSER & PETER SHOW
Dakar heroes Al Attiyah & Peterhansel duke it out

Dakar 2018’s 12th and longest day turned out to be a car and truck stage only as the bike stage was canned due to adverse conditions on their route on Thursday. 

The car race between Chilecito to San Juan, Argentina however proved to be an intriguing one as the top ten continually changed position through the early part of the stage. Local hero Orlando Terranova’s Mini, French superhero, Mr. Dakar Stephane Peterhansel’s Peugeot, Dutch driver Bernhard Ten Brinke and Qatari Toyota teammate Nasser Al Attiyah all took turns at the race lead while Giniel de Villiers’ third Toyota and Mikko Hirvonen in a Mini also batted close to the front.

Peterhansel and Al Attiyah drew clear at the front as the stage wore on and it was Al Attiyah who ultimately emerged victorious to who bring the South African Toyota team its second stage win on the trot and Attiyah’s twelfth stage win in total. He beat Peterhansel by 2 minutes, with de Villiers third from Terranova and ten Brinke.

Overall leader Carlos Sainz eased through the stage to end up ninth as he made sure to get to the finish with Peugeot wing man Cyril Despres in attendance. Sainz forfeited 18 minutes of his overall lead of more than an hour as he payed it very safe with teammate Stephane Peterhansel closing in to 44 minutes adrift in the overall rankings at the end of the day. 

The Toyotas meanwhile continued in their fraught fight over the final overall podium step, with Al Attiyah 21 minutes behind Peterhansel and 12 minutes ahead of Ten Brinke, who in turn holds a 9 minute advantage over fifth placed de Villiers.

South African TreasuryOne rookies Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte were 29th at the mid-stage neutralisation point in their Ford V8-powered Amarok. Like most crews running further back in the race, they are fighting off the ravages of exhaustion into likely yet another 15-hour day at the wheel,  but fully focussed on Saturday’s finish in Cordoba.

While the motorcycles did not race onThursday, there was none the less drama as two front runners withdrew from Dakar 2018 - Joan Barreda and Stefan Svitko both called it quits in Chilecito. 

Friday’s penultimate 369km from San Juan to Cordoba is the last real racing stage across the dunes and fesh-fesh before taking to the roads of Argentina’s World Rally Championship roads, which will also be used for Saturday’s short last dance. Follow it all on TreasuryOne’s Dakar Live Blog at www.motorsportmedia.co.za.


19h55 cars Al Attiyah has provisionally won Toyota's second stage on the trot, 2 minutes clear of Peterhansel with de Villiers third from Terranova and ten Brinke

19h25 cars Peterhansel and Al Attiyah have drawn clear at the front with the Peugeot 22 seconds clear at WP10

19h10 cars Al Attiyah becomes the fourth car leader of the day as he pips Peter to WP9

18h40 cars The official timing is down but reports suggest that Stéphane Peterhansel was leading Nasser Al-Attiyah, Orlando Terranova and Giniel De Villiers and Bernhard ten Brinke at WP8

17h00 cars The stage restarts as the TreasuryOne Amarok Ford arrives at the neutralisation control in 29th...

16h30 cars While it's quiet at the Dakar with the cars in the pause and bikes yet to start, here's something to help you get over the hole no Dakar will make in your days next week - Zwartkops' Passion for Speed promises to be a cracker of a weekend 26-28 January...

16h00 cars Attiyah gains second back, otherwise no change into the stage neutralisation 

15h30 cars It's a close race today as positions change sector by sector - now ten Brinke leads Peterhansel, Terranova, Attiyah and de Villiers

15h00 cars SA's treasuryOne crew, Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte were 27th through WP2 this morning in the TreasuryOne Amarok - ike most crews running further back they are fighting off the ravages of exhaustion into likely yet another 15-hour day at the wheel

14h50 cars The front end of today's stage looks a little different from what we have been used to after the third waypoint - no Peugeots in the top 3 as local Argentine Mini man Orlando Terranova leads the way a minute clear of Bernhard ten Brinke and two clear of Giniel de Villiers Toyotas. Stephane Peterhansel's Peugeot is next up from Nasser Al Attiyah and Mikko Hirvonen in another Mini. Race leader Carlos Sainz is 8 minutes back in ninth, now no longer carrying that 10 minute penalty with Peugeot teammate Cyril Despres running as his wing man 

19h45 bikes Big news early today is that bike frontrunners Joan Barreda and Stefan Svitko are out of Dakar following a torrid day Wednesday

14h40 all Today's stage is a double and different sting in the tail for the cars and bikes. The cars just face a long, hard day - up at 4:30am they travel almost 800km and race 523km today, but the bikes were due to start later and run a shorter route but they the stage has been cancelled due to adverse conditions. Only three days of Dakar 2018 remain - who knows what can happen...?
ENDS

Issued on behalf of Dakar 2024 Daily News

What:
Where:
When:
Community:

For further information please contact michele@m-cmedia..co.za

Click on thumbnails to Download images