Laia Sanz is only 175 kilometers away from finishing the Dakar for the 14th time in 14 attempts (11 by motorcycle and 3 by car). He will face the final stage of the Dakar 2024 with the sole aim of putting an end to a very good third participation in a car, where he shows his enormous growth as a driver on four wheels that he has already shown throughout the course in the Extreme And with the team of Carlos Sainz. This time, driving a Century from the Astara team with better performance and better reliability compared to last year, the Catalan was able to show his speed, endurance and intelligence throughout the Dakar to always fight for the Top-15 in general. However, as you get closer to the end, setbacks sometimes occur. And Laia had to solve something very important to reach the finish line of stage 11: she had to travel the last 8 kilometers on three wheels.
On a stage full of rocks, a torture for everyone because of the many holes expected by the competitors in the cars, Laia got a big scare with 8 kilometers left. He got out of his car and found, along with his co-driver Maurizio Gerini, that he had broken his left ankle. If they want to finish the Dakar, they have to reach the finish line by traveling the last 8 kilometers as they used to, between stones and dirt, on three wheels, without the left front wheel. “Trust us, Laia. Come on, we’re also three wheels,” said Maurizio Gerini to the Corbera de Llobregat driver. And they got it.
“It has been a bit of an adventure day. We took the stage very well, being conservative, we knew it, and unfortunately at the end of the stage almost, luckily, we broke the left axle and we left on. three tires “said the Catalan from the Astara team.
“We have stopped, we have gradually continued”Gerini added to his side. “We got to the end and we’re very happy because we got to the end and it could have been worse, but it’s a shame because we lost some positions in the general classification. but there’s still one more day left, so let’s go tomorrow” , added Laia, who dropped to 17th position in the overall scratch ranking after losing time in that finale. Today, Laia is 9 minutes behind 16th place, Romain Dumas, as well as 15th place, Eugenio Amos. He will go for it in the final stage this Friday.
Laia was very clear about the strategy from the beginning and communicated it through the Astara team before the day started: “Prepared for stage 11 of the Dakar. There is little left. There is no need to trust everything. It is a long stage , with a lot of stones and we have to take good care of the tires, because if you run out it will be a very serious problem because we have to wait for the truck and now there will be a complete mess In this sense. We will be conservative, try to reach the end with enough tires and we hope that we will also be lucky. However, no matter how hard he tries, the Dakar has a final surprise in store for him. Laia and Gerini have passed it just one day from crossing the long awaited finish line.
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.
