Dakar Rally SS9: No luck today for the X-raid MINI JCW Team

Jan 17, 2019

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Eighth place for Despres
Peterhansel forced to retire
Lady Luck deserted the X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Team today. Cyril Despres and Jean-Paul Cottret (both FRA) finished eighth on stage nine. The two Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz are ranked 41st after a time penalty. Meanwhile, the 2019 Dakar came to a premature end for Stéphane Peterhansel and David Castera (both FRA).

The streak of bad luck continued today for Despres and Cottret. Despite this, they still managed to finish eighth and are currently fifth overall. “We first stopped for Stéphane shortly after the start, to see whether we could help at all,” explained Despres. “After that, everything was going smoothly for us initially – we had a good pace and found all the waypoints immediately. Then came kilometer 299, when we struggled to find a waypoint. We were then climbing a dune when a motorcyclist suddenly appeared from the side. I was just able to avoid him, but the front of our car plunged vertically into a hole. Unfortunately, the car did not land back on its wheels, but on its side. I owe a big debt of thanks to Martin Prokop, who got us back on our wheels again.” In the course of the evening, however, there was already good news from the hospital in Lima.

Sainz and Cruz lost their power steering in yesterdays stage. The team worked all night on the steering to get the car fit for the ninth stage. But even in the morning problems arose which the team was fortunate to solve. Sainz and Cruz started the stage about three hours late and receive a time penalty from the race control.

After a big impact 26 kilometers into stage nine, co-driver David Castera complained of bad back pains. The Frenchman is currently on his way to the hospital in Lima. Stéphane Peterhansel is unhurt and was able to bring the car back to the X-raid service park. “We came over a dune and landed head-on in the next dune,” explained Peterhansel. “Everything happened so quickly that David, who was looking at the road book at that moment, was not expecting the impact.” However, there is already good news from the hospital in Lima. The X-raid team doctor reports that David Castera has only a contusion of the spine. No bone fractures were found in the spine. In addition, there were no injuries to the capsule ligament. The injuries will heal without consequences.

The 2019 Dakar bows out tomorrow with the final stage from Pisco back to the start city of Lima. The competitors must first complete a 112-kilometer loop around the bivouac in Pisco. They then head into the Peruvian capital, where the podium ceremony will also take place.

Rally Dakar – Result SS9
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 3h 53m 22s
2. Nani Roma (ESP) / Alex Haro (ESP) MINI JCW Rally – 3h 58m 20s
3. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 4h 00m 37s
4. Kuba Przygonski (POL) / Tom Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 07m 23s
5. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU) / Sebastian Rozwadowski (POL) Toyota – 4h 09m 07s
6. Martin Prokop (CZE) / Jan Tomanek (CZE) Ford – 4h 26m 21s
7. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 26m 47s
8. Cyril Despres (FRA) / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 33m 08s
9. Erik Van Loon (NDL) / Harmen Scholtalbers (NDL) Toyota – 4h 39m 18s
10. Dennis Krotov (RUS) / Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 40m 04s
…
41. Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Lucas Cruz (ESP) MINI JCW Buggy – 7h 11m 54s

Rally Dakar – Overall result after SS9
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 33h 09m 12s
2. Nani Roma (ESP) / Alex Haro (ESP) MINI JCW Rally – 34h 00m 39s
3. Sebastian Loeb (FRA) / Daniel Elena (FRA) Peugeot – 35h 11m 49s
4. Kuba Przygonski (POL) / Tom Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 35h 43m 03s
5. Cyril Despres (FRA) / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) MINI JCW Buggy – 36h 04m 25s
6. Martin Prokop (CZE) / Jan Tomanek (CZE) Ford – 36h 38m 18s
7. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) MINI JCW Rally – 37h 37m 34s
8. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 40h 17m 28s
9. Ronan Chabot (FRA) / Gilles Pillot (FRA) Toyota – 41h 20m 58s
10. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU) / Sebastian Rozwadowski (POL) Toyota – 41h 24m 38s
…
15. Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Lucas Cruz (ESP) MINI JCW Buggy – 43h 09m 59s

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