Long Travel with Uncertain End
Dakar Rally had another unscheduled rest day on the agenda. However, all participants had to cross mountains and cover 1200 kilometres, which many accompanying teams have not managed yet.
For the reason of massive landslide and rainstorms making the connection to Salta non-negotiable the participants in the cross-country competition had to take a bypass 350 km long. As neither the racing specials nor their accompanying service trucks were able to reach the next bivouac in time yesterday´s ninth stage had to be cancelled too.
“We have been on the way for eighteen hours. Good news however is that we have managed to cross the mountains in altitudes around four and a half kilometres above sea level, all on pervious ground. What I think will be a problem is that most accompanying vehicles of the other pilots have not finished the mountain section yet. We have some four hundred kilometres to the bivouac and there are many teams around us,“ said the manager of the Tatra Buggyra Racing team Jan Kalivoda in response to the official announcement of the organizers saying that all went according to plans.
“As far as we know our racing specials are already in the bivouac and the accompaniment is only about two hours away. Even if the mechanics will only have a couple of hours for the truck preparation I believe we will be ready for the next stage,“ commented Kalivoda on the current situation.
The stage from Chilecito to San Juan scheduled for today is 751 kilometres long, with originally planned 449 racing kilometres. Official sources say that this stage will materialise, admitting, though, that starting times may be adapted to the actual condition of racing crews in the bivouac.
