This year's Dakar Rally couldn't have started worse for defending car champion Nani Roma.
The Spaniard's Mini broke down just 10 kilometres into Day 1, having the driver lose more than two hours -something which will in all sureness have put paid to any hopes of him winning the title for a second time.
Hardly had the race started for Roma when his Mini suffered oil pressure problems, forcing him to stop no sooner had this special stage begun. The man from Catalonia had to wait for the mechanics' truck to arrive to help him in repairing the breakage and carry on.
The Qatari driver Al-Attiyah (Mini) took the leading position of this first stage, completing the stage faster than Argentine Orlando Terranova (Mini) and North American Robby Gordon (Hummer). Al-Attiyah covered the 170-kilometre stretch in 1 hour, 12.5 seconds, 22 seconds faster than Terranova.
Al-Attiyah stormed ahead from the first moment of the time trial, managing to keep Terranova in his rearview mirror all the way, despite the Argentine's firm desire to shine in front of his home crowd. Gordon, at the wheel of his Hummer, crossed the line one minute behind the leader. The fastest Spaniard was Carlos Sainz (Peugeot), who came in sixth with a time of 2:06.
Dutch driver Humphrey Sennvanbasel had a serious accident and was hurried to hospital with head injuries. Meanwhile, Uruguayan Sergio Lafuente, third in the quads category, also had an accident, dislocating his thumb.
Source - Marca
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting here!