Desert sandstorms force cancellation of Dakar Rally stage

SANDSTORMS in the Mauritanian desert forced the cancellation of yesterday’s eighth stage of the Dakar Rally.

The decision was made after only 96 bikes, 59 cars and 27 trucks had completed yesterday’s stage, with the blowing sand making for poor visibility.

Stage eight between Tichit and Tidjikja, which was expected to be the toughest route of the event, had already been shortened from 520 kilometres to 130km with competitors due to set off later than planned.

But it was decided yesterday morning, just an hour before the bikes were due to depart, that the special would not go ahead because of continuing poor weather conditions and instead competitors would make the journey to Tidjikja as a liaison section.

Car leader Stephane Peterhansel came home fastest in the special on Thursday and will now carry his overall lead into stage nine today.

The Mitsubishi driver seemed unfazed by the tough 660km trek and is satisfied with his car’s performance.

“It was a good day for me yesterday, because I started first in the morning and came first across the finish line,”

“The finish line was really very long to come, especially in the last part of the stage. We were alone on the track all day. We didn’t see another car, but we overtook a lot of bikes.

“The car is simply perfect, the four spare wheels that we had in the car this morning are all still fine.” he said.

Behind Peterhansel in the standings are Luc Alphand and German driver Jutta Kleinschmidt.

Thursday’s bike winner David Fretigne also revealed how tough he had found the conditions, as he beat current overall leader Marc Coma by over four minutes.

“It was very hard. With all the camel grass, it was really tough to ride,” said the Yamaha rider.

“We couldn’t go very fast, and it was very difficult from a technical point of view.”