Laia Sanz covers a good part of the sixth stage, which in an unprecedented way takes place between today and tomorrow, Friday, where the organization of Dakar Rally was baptized as the “48-hour chrono”. The KH-7 pilot arrived at camp “D”, located at kilometer 402 of the special – of the 547 planned – after driving for 6 hours and 34 minutes in a veritable sea of sands, in the middle of the Saudi Empy Quarter (empty place).
That’s the point where the bulk of the leading pilots, except for the three who continued 33 kilometers, reached the “E” camp. And the stage is designed so that at 4:00 pm local time, the participants have to stop at the first of the seven bivouacs distributed along the route to continue with the other special the next day. In the case of Laia Sanz ysco-pilot Maurizio GeriniTomorrow they have 145 timed kilometers left, as well as sand, to complete the entirety of the sixth stage.
Today’s difficulties are many, starting with the terrain, continuing with the number of hours spent tensely behind the wheel and ending with navigation and autonomy. And, as if that wasn’t enough, tonight neither Laia Sanz nor any of those still participating in the race, as if it were a marathon stage, will receive any help from their mechanic.
The challenge is not small for the Spanish woman from the Astara Team, because in her case she drives a buggy with only rear-wheel drive on a type of surface where 4×4 vehicles have a noticeable advantage. However, the one from Corbera de Llobregat (Barcelona) has pulled out all the stops to overcome this condition and knows how to successfully surf the sand dunes.
This is what Laia Sanz experienced: “Tela with today’s stage! We were happy to reach the camp, because in a 4×2 it was very difficult. There were places where we had to find a way to get to the top of the dune because we lacked traction, as usual. In the worst case, we lost about 15 minutes. It was at a way point that we had to reach at the top of a dune. We thought we had validated it and when we were at the bottom we saw that it wasn’t there yet so we had to go back and we had a hard time going up. That’s why we made a bit of a mistake today because we lost a lot of time.”
“At kilometer 70 we had to slow down because we realized that we had consumed a lot of fuel and that, if we didn’t slow down, we wouldn’t make it to the refueling station,” he explained. “In the end, today is a day to minimize the damage, because there are places where we can push harder,” added the KH-7 driver.
As for the classification, the final time for the sixth stage will be known this Friday. Right now, at kilometer 402, Sanz and Gerini are in 36th overall provisional position.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
