DAKAR SERIES - CENTRAL EUROPE RALLY (APRIL 19-26) Thursday, April 24, 2008

Leg 5 (Thursday April 24, 2008), Veszprem (Hungary) - Veszprem (Hungary):Road section: 11 kmSS5A: 157 kmRoad section: 0.5 kmRoad section: 35 kmSS5B: 54kmRoad section: 61 kmTotal distance: 318.5 km

THE BATTLE HEATS UP IN HUNGARY BUT STEPHANE PETERHANSEL STILL LEADS AND NANI ROMA IS ON THE PODIUM

The fifth day of the 2008 Central Europe Rally featured a menu of 211km of competitive action, including a second visit yesterday morning to the longest test of the week close to Lake Balaton in Hungary. The 157km run saw Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart's Stephane Peterhansel and  Jean-Paul Cottret (France) momentarily dislodged from the lead following a puncture, but the Frenchman overcame a gearbox problem on the afternoon's test to hit back and retrieve top spot this evening. Meanwhile, two third-fastest times for Nani Roma/Lucas Cruz (Spain) have taken the Spanish pair to overnight third, and Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard have moved up two places into fifth place.

After a cold and overcast start from Veszprem this morning, the clouds quickly cleared to make way for warm springtime weather in the Lake Balaton region as competitors set out for the day's opener, a 157km loop to the northeast of Lake Balaton. The first stage turned out to be a drama-packed affair, with two of the front-runners - De Villiers and All Attiyah - both falling foul of the hazardous conditions, while World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz profited from Peterhansel's puncture to ease into a temporary lead by the margin of just three seconds.

"About 25km from the end of the long stage, we were forced to stop and change a wheel after one of our tyres was holed by a piece of metal," related Peterhansel. "We had a bit of trouble changing the wheel and the operation took a minute or so longer than it should have done. Otherwise Carlos wouldn't have passed us." After being toppled from the lead, Peterhansel decided to push hard on the afternoon's test and all was going well until the Frenchman began to have trouble with his gearbox: "We only had the first three gears for the final 20km of the stage, and that was obviously a huge handicap along the long straights. I was surprised at the finish to see that I had regained the lead by 22 seconds!"

Nani Roma put in a consistent drive to secure two third-fastest times and he was rewarded by a footing on tonight's provisional podium: "Today's stages were fast, with lots of long straights and you couldn't always see the hazards coming. You had to be on your guard all the time, but I think I went quite well this morning. The navigation was complex but Lucas did a fine job. After the long break between the two stages, I had a little difficultly settling into the same fast rhythm, and we dropped some time when we had to cover maybe 12km at the end of the test in the dust of Chicherit who had stopped to change a puncture."

Luc Alphand was pleased with his day and, like his Spanish team-mate, moved up the order to put a third Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution MPR13 in this evening's top-five. "The navigation was very tricky again but Gilles was on the case," he reported in Veszprem this evening. "We settled into a good pace for most of the day, but we had the frustration of being passed on a stage again - this time by Gordon, this morning - and that always means extra time lost because you have to pull over and then follow in  their dust. The second stage was more fun, but you had to be on your toes all the time, and we saw quite a few top drivers in difficulty today."

"Stéphane, Luc and Nani all did a great job today," remarked Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Team Director Dominique Serieys (France). "After five days, there's less than half a minute in it between the top two and I think that says a great deal for the level of the competition in this discipline today. But we've got another long day ahead of us tomorrow and we can't afford to take our eye off the ball for a moment."

After the second of the three nights scheduled in Veszprem, survivors will contest exactly the same route as today, with the same two stages (157km and 54km).SS5A CLASSIFICATION1 Robby GordonAndy Grider HUMMER H3 01:41:04 **:**:**.*2 Carlos SainzMichel Perin VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 01:41:16 00:123 Joan RomaLucas Cruz MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 01:42:23 01:194 Guerlain ChicheritMatthieu Baumel BMW X3 CC 01:42:45 01:415 Luc AlphandGilles Picard MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 01:43:16 02:126 Dieter DeppingTimo Gottschalk VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 01:43:30 02:267 Stephane PeterhanselJean-Paul Cottret MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 01:45:13 04:098 Carlos SousaAndreas Schulz VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 01:45:54 04:509 Robert BaldwinKevin Heath  HUMMER H3 01:46:30 05:2610 Bruno SabyAlain Guehennec BMW X3 CC 01:47:28 06:24

SS5B CLASSIFICATION1 Stephane PeterhanselJean-Paul Cottret MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 34:05 **:**:**.*2 Carlos SainzMichel Perin VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 34:30 00:253 Joan RomaLucas Cruz MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 34:40 00:354 Luc AlphandGilles Picard MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 34:46 00:415 Robert BaldwinKevin Heath  HUMMER H3 35:37 01:326 Dieter DeppingTimo Gottschalk VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 36:54 02:497 Carlos SousaAndreas Schulz VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 37:07 03:028 Bruno SabyAlain Guehennec BMW X3 CC 37:15 03:109 Philippe GacheFrancois Flick BUGGY SMG 37:34 03:2910 Guerlain ChicheritMatthieu Baumel BMW X3 CC 38:05 04:00SS5A & B COMBINED CLASSIFICATION1 Carlos SainzMichel Perin EF VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 02:15:46 **:**:**.*2 Joan RomaLucas Cruz EE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 02:17:03 01:173 Luc AlphandGilles Picard FF MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 02:18:02 02:164 Stephane PeterhanselJean-Paul Cottret FF MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 02:19:18 03:325 Dieter DeppingTimo Gottschalk DD VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 02:20:24 04:386 Guerlain ChicheritMatthieu Baumel FF BMW X3 CC 02:20:50 05:047 Robert BaldwinKevin Heath USAUSA HUMMER H3 02:22:07 06:218 Carlos SousaAndreas Schulz PD VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 02:23:01 07:159 Bruno SabyAlain Guehennec FF BMW X3 CC 02:24:43 08:5710 Philippe GacheFrancois Flick FF BUGGY SMG 02:27:13 11:27

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 51 Stephane PeterhanselJean-Paul Cottret MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 07:29:53 **:**:**.*2 Carlos SainzMichel Perin  VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 07:30:15 00:223 Joan RomaLucas Cruz  MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 07:32:31 02:384 Dieter DeppingTimo Gottschalk VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 07:33:00 03:075 Luc AlphandGilles Picard  MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION 07:33:01 03:086 Carlos SousaAndreas Schulz VOLKSWAGEN RACE TOUAREG 2 07:51:04 21:117 Bruno SabyAlain Guehennec BMW X3 CC 08:01:05 31:128 Philippe GacheFrancois Flick BUGGY SMG 08:14:11 44:189 Miroslav ZapletalVladimir Nemajer MITSUBISHI L200 08:14:36 44:4310 Robert BaldwinKevin Heath HUMMER H3 08:19:47 49:54