Dakar 2012 - Stage 1 - Mar del Plata > Santa Rosa de la Pampa

[BoothPacific Films]

Since I am at home being dad to our 4 month old I figured I'd get the ball rolling. I'm sure the east coast RDCers will get the jump on most of the stages. I wish Argentina was a little further east just for tonight.

So stage one. A short special and you aren't gonna win the DAKAR today but you could lose the chance to win. Lots of questions to be answered over the coming fortnight. Is five Minis enough to win the race? Were the tire pressure system/hubs fixed on the Hummer? Is Al-Attiyah faster than RG? Can Cody Quinn or Jonah Street prove that we've got 2 wheel talent? This should be fun. I hope everybody makes it to Peru safely.

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[stevef]

looks like nasser led robby by nine seconds on the first WP. only five cars across the line so far. Cody finished fourth and street tenth so far.

[stevef]

problems for Nasser? DeVilliers is the first across the finish on track position.

[stevef]

Nasser and Robby had nearly a minute lead going into WP1 but had issued coming up to the finish. Nasser is nearly 10 minutes behind Peterhansel and Robby is 40 seconds back. DeVilliers toyoto looks to be competitive as well this year.

[spalind]

What happened? Al-Attiyah loses near 10 minutes on a 57 km stage?? No bueno..

[stevef]

oil pressure problems for nasser, robby towed him across the line.

[spalind]

WAJ--"We had an engine oil pressure loss and preferred to wait for Robby to tow us to the finish, since we did not want to damage the engine... We will see, but this does not look good... And, whatever happens, this is not a good way to start the Dakar!"

Sound familiar?? An underprepped, unprepared, undersupported secondary effort. "Hey Nasser, I know you haven't gotten a ride so far for '12 and I have this nice Hummer sitting over her all ready for you and it'll only cost you a buttload of money...Don't worry about the lack of support trucks, lack of testing and last minute throw it together appearance of all of this...These Hummers just run forever..."

Sorry to be so negative but, well...I think we all saw this coming...

[spalind]

And the one of the new Volvo efforts is toast...literally..."The former South African motorcycle rider, participating at the wheel of a Volvo XC60-based Pewano, has been the victim of a fire which has destroyed his vehicle. Both the driver and his German teammate Jürgen Schröder emerged unscathed."

He shoulda stuck with his Nissan...

[Desert Dog]

Bloody hell! What a start to the event..... it's gripping from the beginning!

Feel sorry for the Pewano crowd... Olle Ohlson (involved in the Pewano team) was in Dubai a few weeks ago and we spent time in the desert together. He was telling me how the vehicle evolved over the last few months. He was due to nav in the support truck but ended up with pneumonia when he left here... Just went from bad to very bad.

Not too worried about the Hummers yet - this is day one and if sheet happens on Day 1, usually everything comes right! (Although not the case for Pewano).

[Bridges]

Happy New Year ~ What is the best way to follow "track" this race por favor ~