Day three of the 2014 Dakar rally was a day of mixed feelings for the Hessian team: With their yellow MINI ALL4 Racing, Nani Roma (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA) won today’s stage, followed by their team-mates Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL) / Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) in the red MINI ALL4 Racing. Orlando Terranova (ARG) and his Portuguese navigator Paulo Fiúza took their orange MINI ALL4 Racing to fourth position and the pairing Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Lucas Cruz (ESP) in the white MINI ALL4 Racing came seventh. Meanwhile, the Frenchmen Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret encountered a bad day, in their black MINI ALL4 Racing, and finished 29th, some 28 minutes behind Roma / Périn.
Roma, however, was virtually over the moon: “Today’s stage was extremely difficult,” he said. “I drove past several cars that had had to stop and began to worry. But then I focused on myself and at the end of the day, everything went fine.” By winning stage three, he also leaped from fourth position in the overall standings to the lead.
Holowczyc also completed stage three without being hampered by any major problems. “Finally a trouble-free day,” the Pole beamed in the bivouac. “Konstantin and I get on better and better.” For Holowczyc and his Russian co-driver Zhiltsov, the 2014 Dakar is the first rally they contest together. Terranova finished fourth. At first, he lost some time in the dust of several other vehicles and then, “I stopped to provide Stéphane with one of our spare tyres as he had suffered his fourth punctures and had run out of spare tyres.”
Al-Attiyah experienced a blessing in disguise – he had to cope with four punctures. In the first three cases, he could solve the problem with a spare tyre but after the fourth puncture “We stopped every five kilometres to refill the tyre,” revealed the driver from Qatar who finished seventh, nevertheless.
Meanwhile, Peterhansel had to cope with a heavy dose of bad luck. “This was a day I haven’t encountered in my career too date,” said the Frenchman. “The first puncture was my mistake as I hit a rock. But then, we arrived at a field with vegetation and countless thorns.” Theses thorns pierced into the tyres and caused the punctures. “Orly provided us with a tyre as we had run out of spare tyres and then, we had to cruise to the finish with another two slow punctures.”
Today’s special stage had to be shortened by the organisers from 301 to 245 kilometres as a section of the track was damaged over the course of the past days by heavy rain to an extent that using it was impossible. Tomorrow, the longest stage of the 2014 Dakar is waiting for the field: a total mileage of 868 kilometres, featuring a 501-kilometre special stage that is split by a 157-kilometre neutralisation. According to the organisers, the first car will start at 07:20hrs and is expected to finish the stage at about 15:25hrs.
Result stage three:
1st N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 2h 58m 52s
2nd K. Holowczyc (POL) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 2h 59m 59s
3rd L. Poulter (ZAF) / R. Howie (ZAF) Toyota – 3h 02m 11s
4th O. Terranova (ARG) / P. Fiúza (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 03m 46s
5th G. Chicherit (FRA) / A. Winocq (FRA) Buggy – 3h 05m 44s
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7th N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / L. Cruz (ESP) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 09m 01s
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9th F. Villagra (ARG) / J. P. Companc (ARG) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 09m 46s
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12th M. Kaczmarski (POL) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 2h 32m 59s
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14th Zhou Yong (CHN) / Hong Yu Pan (CHN) MINI ALL4 Racing – 5h 40m 27s
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17th B. Garafulic (CHI) / G. Picard (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 58m 57s
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29th S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 52m 05s
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37th S. Schott (GER) / H. Schmidt (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing – 5h 09m 44s
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32nd A. Yacopini (ARG) / M. J. Scopinaro (ARG) BMW X3 CC – 5h 18m 21s
51st V. Vasilyev (RUS) / V. Yevtyekhov (UKR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 54m 37s
Total standings after three stages
1st N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 20m 13s
2nd O. Terranova (ARG) / P. Fiúza (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 29m 19s
3rd N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / L. Cruz (ESP) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 30m 13s
4th C. Sainz (ESP) / T. Gottschalk (GER) Buggy – 9h 32m 15s
5th S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 44m 21s
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8th K. Holowczyc (POL) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 54m 54s
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11th F. Villagra (ARG) / J. P. Companc (ARG) MINI ALL4 Racing – 10h 06m 08s
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16th M. Kaczmarski (POL) / F. Palmeiro (POR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 10h 28m 41s
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18th B. Garafulic (CHI) / G. Picard (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 10h 50m 21s
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22nd V. Vasilyev (RUS) / V. Yevtyekhov (UKR) MINI ALL4 Racing – 11h 22m 04s
23rd S. Schott (GER) / H. Schmidt (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing – 11h 22m 46s
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25th A. Yacopini (ARG) / M. J. Scopinaro (ARG) BMW X3 CC – 11h 26m 08s
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27th Zhou Yong (CHN) / Hong Yu Pan (CHN) MINI ALL4 Racing – 11h 27m 17s
