For those who are interested, VW fill the first 5 positions including carlos sainz in 3rd and Ari Vatanen in 4th. The first buggy is in 11th, Robby Gordon is in 13th (trophy truck with a hummer body over it) 8 mins behind the leader. Schlessar is doing his usual early on and still finding the limits - he's in 18th 10 mins down.
so many cars/people to cheer for!
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Green Sally up. Green Sally down. Lift and squat, gonna tear the ground.
End of stage 3 and Sainz is leading with VW's in 2nd and 3rd.
Schlessar has pulled up to 11, but with the dunes ahead he prob wont progress any further than that for a few days.
Gordon got pinged for speeding in stage 2, included iwth that was a roll over, he is now in 22nd and 58mins behind sainz and again, prob wont pick up any time in the dunes over the 4wds.
I wonder if Gordon has got the only Albins box in the field?
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Green Sally up. Green Sally down. Lift and squat, gonna tear the ground.
Its a full on trophy truck, but as the rules say max suspension travel of 20" its running an Albins IRS rear end with 934's and kartek hubs instead of the 30" travel live rear end.
Sad news from last night...
The organisation of the Dakar received the news this morning of the death of South Africa’s Elmer Symons, bike rider n°107.
Today at 9:16, the race headquarters received an Iritrack alert coming from km 142 of the 4th stage from Er Rachidia to Ouarzazate. On the site of the crash by helicopter 8 minutes later, the race direction could only record the death, confirmed 10 minutes later by the medical helicopter.
Head of a company specialised in the exportation of metal parts from the United States to South Africa, 29-year-old Elmer Symons was taking part in his first Dakar as a competitor. He had lived two others in an assistance crew. He was 18th overall.
The rally organisation is waiting for the return of Kingsley Symons who takes care of the assistance of his brother to witness their support and sadness.
El Matador still leads followed by the same two VW's with only 4:20 between them after 9+hrs of competitive stages. Schelssar made up some ground to be only 18m behind sainz in 7th, dont know what happened to gordon, but he's languishing in 49th more than 3 and a half hours behind.
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Green Sally up. Green Sally down. Lift and squat, gonna tear the ground.
Looks like VW peaked a little early & the Mitsu's may take out another Dakar.
The leading VW is Driven by Mark Miller (USA). How impressive have those TDI VW's been? They have been quicker in a straight line than the Pajero's (Petrol).
