“Not easy without 3rd gear “
Cyril Despres (Driver, N°104 Peugeot DKR2008) :
“We had our doubts at the start of the stage. And they were confirmed in the dunes where we lost 3 rd gear. In these conditions, I am happy we were able to get out of the dunes without too much damage. We had to maintain the rpms in the dunes were we couldn’t use the ideal trajectory. But rally-raid is motor racing and problems are part of it.”
“A puncture“
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Driver,N°103 MINI ALL4 Racing) :
“We overtook Vasilyev in this special stage where we really couldn’t attack. We got a puncture at km 140 and then we followed Vasilyev in the dunes. Three days from Beijing, the most important thing for us is to protect our position in the general classification.”
“Seb drove a great special stage…“
Stéphane Peterhansel (Driver, N°100 Peugeot DKR2008) :
“We stayed behind Cyril Despres for the entire special stage and sometimes we could see Sébastien Loeb’s tracks. I have to say he drove a great stage, sometimes taking some interesting directions in the dunes. He has made a lot of progress in navigation. It is a shame for him, because sometimes it comes down to the details. The area wherehe got caught out was complicated to understand…We also did a lot of turning in circles…”
“It’s frustrating“
Sébastien Loeb (Driver, N°102 Peugeot DKR2008):
“We have been working well for the past few days. Today, we decided to attack and we ran out front for the entire special stage at an accelerated pace. When we arrived at CP3, we understood that something wasn’t right. We had backtracked thinking that we returned to the missing points, but unfortunately, Daniel made a mistake and it turned out we came up 40 metres shy of validating the missing way-points. It is a heavy price to pay, but that is the rule. In any case, it is a mistake we will not make any more. Today, we were perhaps in apposition to win the rally. We will now try to learn more…”
“From hunted to hunter”
Martin Van Den Brink (Driver N°301 Renault Sherpa) :
“Mardeev got past us and we were following until we suffered a puncture at the 300Km mark in the dunes. The time to slow done, change the tyre and get back up to speed cost us 20 minutes. Today we were the hunted, but now we will be the hunters, chasing the Kamaz. We are more than 12 minutes behind, but there is still time. The race is not over.”
“My goal was to catch VDB”
Airat Mardeev (driver, N°306 Kamaz):
“My goal was to catch up to Van Den Brink and it's very good that we did it, because his pace was very fast. At first, it was really difficult to follow him, but when on the off-road tracks we started to catch him, but a car slowed my attack. Then we caught him again and he signaled us past. Thanks to him. We had a puncture at km 140, but drove to the finish and didnt lost time.”
Edouard Nikolaev (driver N°310 Kamaz):
“It was a really hard stage in terms of navigation and driving. It was tough for the vehicle too. We were strong, we liked this stage. As for the cancellation of yesterday's stage, I think the organizers did everything right, because what is most important is the safety of the crews.”
