Following all the difficulties the Monster Energy Rally Raid drivers had to cope with in the past days, all the three made it to the top 10 in the fifth stage from Copiapo to Antofagasta. The Polish-French pairing Krzysztof Holowczyc / Xavier Panseri finished seventh, with their blue and black MINI ALL4 Racing, right ahead of Nani Roma (ESP) and Michel Périn (FRA) in the green and black MINI ALL4 Racing. Meanwhile, the Argentineans Orlando Terranova and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue took their red and black MINI ALL4 Rang to 10th position.
By finishing seventh, Holowczyc, worked his way up to fourth position in the overall standings. “It was a tough day but we had opted for taking it easy before going out,” revealed the Pole. “So, we had a trouble-free day and did not even encounter a puncture. Some sections of the stage represented a tough test for the body as the car was given a good shaking. But there also were nice technical and flowing sections that were big fun.”
Today’s stage was truly demanding and took both man and machine to their very limits, with the closing stages in particular making for numerous punctures. Unfortunately, Nani Roma who had battled it out among the top three, previously, also was among these drivers. “We had three punctures during the final kilometres,” Roma said annoyed. “One in the dust of Orly, and the other two slightly later. Very annoying as the MINI ran really well, apart from the punctures.”
Following yesterday’s close encounter with a rock, Terranova had to start into today’s stage from 16th position. “Actually, it was a really nice stage but it also was dangerous as the air was filled with dust. Therefore, overtaking was really difficult,” said the Argentinean who finished 10th.”
In tomorrow’s sixth stage, the Dakar field will drive from Antofagasta to Iquique. The special stage will be split in two parts. The first 69 special-stage kilometres will be followed by a 22-kilometre neutralisation section and then, the crews will have to cover another 186 special-stage kilometres. The fans of the famous big dune at Iquique, however, will have to be patient. The finish of tomorrow’s special stage will be located in Iquique’s city centre and the special stage will end with a podium crossing. This is supposed to be a symbol of support for the city that was struck by an earthquake.
