Dakar 2012 - Stage 3 - San Rafael > San Juan

[klaus]

If you have ever been lucky enough to fly over the Andes Mountains, you will have some sort of idea of what awaits the competitors during the third stage of the Dakar 2012 this Tuesday. As if squeezed by the hand of a giant, the rocks are laid out in strata, then suddenly cut off, offering the eyes a palette of red and orange nuances. On the ground, the reality is less poetic: on the day's special stage between San Rafael and San Juan, river bed crossings as well as potholes and rocks make the terrain particularly bumpy. The robustness of the machines will be put to the utmost test should the competitors make the slightest mistake. The hierarchy drawn up over the first two stages is of course merely provisional. As everyone predicted, the favourite in the car category, Stephane Peterhansel is already in the lead, but will his team-mates on the Mini team and the Hummers allow him to take advantage of his dominance? Again, as everyone predicted, the favourite in the bike race, Marc Coma, rode his race to perfection on Monday, gaining the ascendency over his main rivals. Yet, Francisco Lopez on his Aprilia, or Coma's KTM team-mate, Cyril Desprès, who made a superb comeback on stage 2, are far from their last throw of the dice. The surprise at the beginning this Dakar 2012 lies in the quad category, incarnated by Uruguayan Sergio La Fuente. However, the Patronelli brothers and Tomas Maffei are most likely to be organising a riposte on their home terrain. As for the heavyweight confrontation between the trucks of Dutchmen Gerard De Rooy and Hans Stacey, not forgetting Russian driver Nikolaev, it will necessarily be the last of the day, but certainly not the least exciting. 291 kilometres of link stage are on the menu for breakfast, before 270 km of special stage for the bikes and quads and 208 km for the cars and trucks. The rally will be hitting the heights (almost 3000 metres in altitude on two occasions), in geographical and sporting terms… but with breakdown a constant threat.






Distances:
Liaison: Cars 291km/181miles ,Bikes 291km/181miles ,Trucks 291km/181miles
Special Stage: Cars 208km/129miles ,Bikes 270km/181miles ,Trucks 208km/129miles



Tracking link: http://gaps.dakar.com/2012/dakar/stage-03/aso/ukie.php

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[BoothPacific Films]

the french translated into english press releases are whack.

[fishd00d]

From Twitter it looks like the cars will start around 5:18AM PST..

"Stage 3 start times for the special section: Nasser Al Attiyah begins at 10:18am/et & Robby Gordon begins at 10:24am/et"

[FlyHiFlyLo]

7:18 and 7:24... Awesome. I should be pulling up to my desk at work just then.

[woundedyak]

Potholes and rocks eh? only 180miles. leaving 7min apart. If Nasser takes off, does Robby try to slow the rest of the field down? Does Robby catch Nasser and those two battle it out? Sounds like the Hummers might have an edge on the mini's in the washes and "pothole" sections. I just wish you could stream in car live. I would pay good money for that subscription.

[Offspring]

Potholes and rocks eh? only 180miles. leaving 7min apart. If Nasser takes off, does Robby try to slow the rest of the field down? Does Robby catch Nasser and those two battle it out? Sounds like the Hummers might have an edge on the mini's in the washes and "pothole" sections. I just wish you could stream in car live. I would pay good money for that subscription.

Posts by PR state car distance is only 208km not the 291 the bikes will do. RG WILLLget the mc book again.

[FlyHiFlyLo]

Pedal to the metal yak... That's how this is won.

[bufeo]

the french translated into english press releases are whack.

Then read them in French.

Allen R

[jkblaze]

Thanks for the update! This forum is awesome for keeping track of the race.

[BoothPacific Films]

Then read them in French.

Allen R

Il était une fois, je pouvais lire le français beaucoup mieux. Je peux obtenir les rudiments avec les Français, mais j'ai besoin de l'anglais pour obtenir tous les détails. Il ya toujours eu quelque chose d'étrange au sujet de la version anglaise de communiqués de presse d'ASO. Je sais que je suis difficile et doit être heureux, ils traduisent pour nous.

basically this says, in 2nd grade french, that I can't read french very well anymore and need the english to confirm the details of what happened. and I am admittedly being difficult.