Dakar 2012 – Stage 4

Stage 4

San Juan >Chilecito

Route

The first 100km of the special stage sees competitors climb from 1000m to over 3000m in altitude, before descending back down again on this 326km stage. And this coming after an equally long road section in the morning. The special’s terrain is much the same as yesterday, mud, stones, and the occasional river crossing.

Magazine (2min):

There’s an electric car on the Dakar this year..

Stage 4 Summary (3min30s):

The only thing missing from the video updates is interviews with the main players, you don’t get to see the personalities, and personalities are half of what makes sport so interesting. The official channel has the stage winner but that’s it. I’m sure there are other videos around online if you want to take a look.

Videos from the official Dakar YouTube channel / ASO.

Standings

Don’t read this until you’ve seen the videos.

Today – Bikes

Marc Coma fastest again, after his error yesterday he recovered 2 minutes on Despres. This race is a battle between these two men.

1. Coma (KTM)
2. Despres (KTM) +2m02s
3. Verhoeven (Sherco) +8m26s
4. Rodrigues (Yamaha) +9m01s
5. Goncalves (Husqvarna) +11m18s

Overall – Bikes

1. Despres (KTM)
2. Coma (KTM) +8m10s
3. Rodrigues (Yamaha) +26m48s
4. Lopez (Aprilia) +29m50s
5. Casteu (Yamaha) +30m37s

Today – Cars

Trouble for the Hummers, the MINIs and Toyotas capitalise.

1. Peterhansel (MINI)
2. Terranova (Toyota) +5m19s
3. De Villiers (Toyota) +6m42s
4. Roma (MINI) +7m35s
5. Holowcyc (MINI) +10m51s

Overall – Cars

1. Peterhansel (MINI)
2. De Villiers (Toyota) +5m41s
3. Roma (MINI) +6m44s
4. Holowcyc (MINI) +8m10s
5. Gordon (Hummer) +16m23s

The breakdown for Al-Attiyah forced teammate (and team boss) Gordon to stop, since their repairs truck was delayed and hadn’t yet caught the Dakar convoy. Their only saving grace was that this stage was tough for everybody, so Gordon still lies 5th. Peterhansel impressively moves from a 2m41s deficit to a 5m41s lead! De Villiers is also doing well in a Toyota which is still in the first year of development.