That’s him Dakar It’s the hardest race in motorsport, it’s not just a cliché. He Repsol Toyota Rally Team He saw it in all its cruelty these days. Isidre Esteve and Txema Villalobos They completed the second part of the 48-hour test on time this Saturday morning, 24 hours later than planned, after spending a second night in the desert. The technical problem they had on Friday made their fight to stay in the epic race. But they achieved it. The Spanish team travels to Riyadh to meet the caravan and continue the test on Sunday.
The period of 48 hours This is the queen’s stage Dakarwith a route of 547 kilometerscompletely on the sands of Empty Quarter. For Esteve and Villalobos it has been a true marathon, worthy of the most legendary feats that made the Dakar famous. The team supported by Repsol, MGS Seguros, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Spain and KH-7 It took 47 hours to complete it, from when they started on Thursday morning until they reached the goal of Shubaytah this morning. For them it is a time of 48 hoursalmost literally.
The stage almost started to set for them on Thursday. In the first part, they swallowed at least 402 kilometers of sand dunes and planted themselves in the camp. “D”, the one they planned on paper. They only needed one way point (15 minute penalty) that wasn’t validated at the top of a dune, but it was so steep that they couldn’t climb back up. On Friday they had 147 kilometers ahead of them. However, shortly after starting, the front differential broke. It was a case of real bad luck.
“We didn’t throw a punch or anything. If the special is difficult in itself, without front-wheel drive, with this soft sand, we are stuck even if the ground is flat. Txema removed the front driveshafts and the cardan shaft to leave the differential free, but twice we got stuck at the bottom of a dune, and each time it took us between five and six hours to get the car out .”explained the pilot from Oliana (Lleida).
No one could help them and, to make matters worse, their track assistance truck overturned on Thursday and they couldn’t rely on it either. “When they told us that we don’t have a T4 truck because it overturned, it was almost impossible. Txema spent ten hours removing sand from under the car, sometimes moving it several feet. We spent a thousand and one, the truth is”Esteve admitted.
“I think we need to contact the authorities in Saudi Arabia to tell them that they need to redo the maps, because we changed some sands. Even my eyebrows hurt. “It was brutal!” Txema Villalobos joked.
Therefore, when night fell, they decided to stop at camp “G”, the last one on the special route, to spend the night and complete the remaining 47 kilometers on Saturday first thing at daylight. They started at 5:30 in the morning… “And at 5:45 we were hooked again. Luckily it only happened to us once. At 6:45 we crossed the finish line”. It had been 47 hours since they left the Shubaytah bivouac last Thursday.
Thus, without giving up in the face of adversity and showing commendable strength and pride, the Repsol Toyota Rally Team was able to complete the entire stage and continue the race in full law. “The fact that we are here, that we did the whole special without skipping anything and that we are still in the race has an incredible value for us,” assessed the driver from Ilerda. In fact, despite the difficulties, in the second part of this special they proved all the way points (mandatory passage points), which have a lot of merit, considering the circumstances.
However, the odyssey did not end with Shubaytah’s goal. Then they had a huge connection of a thousand kilometers to travel to Riyadh, the scene of this Saturday’s rest day, and where this Sunday the second week of competition begins. The Repsol Toyota Rally Team is scheduled to arrive in the Saudi capital at 10:00 pm (local time). For them, the theoretical rest granted by the organization to the participants will be a huge defeat on the road, added to the effort accumulated in their particular 48-hour time trial.
“When we arrived in Riyadh, the mechanic would work overnight to fix the car. “Now the main thing is to do everything again, do a reset and give gas again,” said an Isidre Esteve immune to discouragement, with a Txema Villalobos unfazed by his dual duties as navigator and mechanic on board.
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.
