Pending validation by the race marshalls, Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (BMW), who had started in 14th position yesterday morning after his mechanical mishaps, wins his 20th stage in the car category in a Dakar, his 53rd all categories included in a Dakar! This is a new record for the man who arrived 47" ahead of Spain’s Carlos Sainz (VW), and 8’55 ahead of US driver Mark Miller (VW)… However, nothing to worry about for Volkswagen that still has three of its Race Touaregs at the top 3 positions in the overall standings with "El Matador" Sainz respectively 15’24 and 17’47 ahead of his two teammates Mark Miller and Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (VW)… "Peter" is now 2h04’02 behind the Dakar leader.. Small revolution however in the Open category where for the first time in this edition, it is not US driver Robby Gordon (Hummer) who wins but his teammate Robert Baldwin (Hummer), with a 15th time at scratch. Finally on the product car side, Japan’s Jun Mitsuhashi (Toyota) gets a second stage victory in this 32nd edition 4’07 ahead of his teammate and title holder Frenchman Nicolas Gibon (Toyota), who keeps the lead in the overall standings of the category.
Bike
Stage 6 summaryPending validation by the race marshalls, Spanish rider Marc Coma (KTM) gets his second stage victory on this 32nd Dakar, his ninth in a Dakar. With a time of 4h46’59, the title holder arrived 10’34 before Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM), and 10’38 before Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha)... In the standings, even if he says he won’t, Cyril Despres can now "manage" his lead which is now at 42’15 against Chile’s Lopez Contardo and 44’05 against Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha)… As for Marc Coma, he is ranking fourth but still 1h06’21 away from the leader.
Truck
Stage 6 summaryPending validation by the race marshalls, five-time winner of the rally raid, Russian driver Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) wins his fifth special stage out of six in this 2010 Dakar and - more importantly - his 52nd (!) in a Dakar, i.e. just one victory shy of absolute record holder Stéphane Peterhansel with 53 victories! At the finish, Chagin arrived 12’03 in front of his teammate and countryman Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) and 31’07 ahead of his other teammate and countryman Ilgizar Mardeev (Kamaz)… Hence, in the overall standings, Chagin is leisurly holding first place as he is now 38’11 ahead of his faithful lieutenant Kabirov and 4h12’19 (!) ahead of Mardeev.
Stage 7
At the end of stage 6 yesterday 235 teams - 99 bikes, 16 quads, 78 cars and 42 trucks - were granted permission to start today’s stage 7. Yesterday’s winner in the bike category, Spanish rider Marc Coma (KTM) kicked off the day’s stage at 7:10AM as per schedule. The title holder was followed two minutes later by the leader in the overall standings, Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM).
STAGE 7 : IQUIQUE – ANTOFAGASTA641 km are on the menu of stage 7 including 600 km (!) against the clock, i.e. the longest stage in this 32nd edition. No chance of boredom however for the contenders who will have to face the most versatile route of the Dakar this year. The stage will start with 40km of sand dunes; then contenders will hit brittle or even very brittle terrain and even a 3km "Salar" (salt flat) they will need to cross and where it will be hard to drive faster than 10 km/h!... Other peculiarity of stage 7 is the neutralization of the race at km 177 for a 50-km liaison on asphalt to drive around a natural reserve. The contenders will start racing again at km 227, with a fast track cut off by windy sections and some off-track on rocks... In a nutshell a particularly varied menu with a lot of spicy parts just before the rest day, which allowed the organizers to push the end to 6:00PM the next day so that a maximum number of contenders would have the opportunity to reach Antofagasta within the time limits and go on with their rally raid.
