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This is the single-news section of the
marathonrally.com rally-live special of the UAE Desert Challenge 2006. To navigate please use the upper or right Navigation Bar.
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UAE Desert Challenge: Alphand and Coma stay on Victory Trail.
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Barring any final leg disasters, two Frenchman, and a Spaniard can look forward to celebrations in Dubai tomorrow afternoon (Friday) when the UAE Desert Challenge returns its survivors from the Empty Quarter. Luc Alphand, skier extraordinaire turned driver, leads by 20 mins 44 secs from Mitsubishi team-mate Stephane Peterhansel after the 378.9km Nissan Special Stage 4 and looks certain to follow up his Dakar Rally triumph at the start of the year with another win to round it off.
Equally in control in a KTM-dominated bikes tussle, Spain’s Marc Coma extended his overnight lead by 11 minutes to head Frenchman Cyril Despres by more than 18 minutes with a day to go. Climbing one place to fourth following the enforced retirement on the day of Spaniard Isidre Esteve, French rider David Casteu will succeed Coma as FIM Cross Country Rallies world champion as long as he avoids a similar misfortune on the last leg.
Nissan’s unofficial "king of the desert" title for the day went to two-times former World Rally Champion, Carlos Sainz, who has been having an up and down time on his first competitive appearance in the Middle East. After winning the opening day’s special stage in great style, he was left in the desert wilderness by a broken drive shaft 24 hours later and must now hope that today’s (Thursday) performance can be matched by consistency in the Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 prototype. That is something that is certainly not happening for VW at present, a point emphasised by Ari Vatanen’s retirement with a blown engine after his car’s gearbox broke the previous day.
Portugal’s Carlos Sousa in another VW, followed by Qatar’s Middle East rally champion Nasser Al Attiyah - second fastest on the day - and Germany’s Jutta Kleinschmidt in two X-raid BMWs, complete the top six. Flying the flag for the UAE, Liberty Chevrolet team-mates Yahya Alhelei and Ahmad Bin Suqat both hold the last two top ten places ahead of Sainz in 11th position.
Relaxing back at the Moreeb Hill bivouac after another long and hot day at the office, Carlos Sainz said: "It was a lot tougher today, very hot. The first part was a bit slower than usual but in the second part of the stage we tried to go a bit quicker and it worked. We have come here to try different things. Some have worked and others not as well as we would have liked. But in general we should be quite pleased, and we’ve still got two months to prepare for the Dakar Rally."
It will take a double disaster en route to the finish in Dubai to prevent Mitsubishi from claiming the FIA Marathonrally Worldcup team title, although that almost happened today. Peterhansel reached the finish of the Nissan stage to say: "It’s been a long day and not easy. At around 60-70kms we hit a big dune and lot three or four minutes, losing a bit of the front of the car in the process." Alphand, whose victory chances almost went downhill on the day, said: "We started fast and then we hit a sand dune, probably the same one as Stephane, and then lost time with navigation. In the final part the chief said to slow down - no need to risk things by chasing Carlos and Jean-Louis."
Desert Challenge 3
Making it a French 1-2-3 at the top of the cars battle is veteran Jean-Louis Schlesser, whose buggy has only two wheel drive but holds an abundance of experience and desert knowhow in the cockpit.
Motobiker Marc Coma, who was in Casteu’s boots last year, needing only to finish the event to become world champion, said: "It’s been a long ride today and too hot. I was able to pass Chris Blais at 60kms and from there on being first was difficult. But it’s been a perfect day on the bike." Despres, in a little discomfort at the end, explained: "Today was much harder. I had a bad start when I crashed in the subka section at 40kms. I couldn’t sit on my bike because I hurt my backside. I feel better now that I’ve finished."
American Blais, who won his first ever stage the previous day, was sandwiched in between Coma and Despres this time to go fifth overall. "It’s been different today but good," he said. "There were a lot of dunes and some of them were very tough. Coma caught me at 60kms. I stayed with him for a while but he slowly moved away. It’s been really hot. The terrain is not like at home in California. There’s a possibility I’ll come back to the Desert Challenge again."
Meanwhile, the game of patience goes on for Casteu, although the world title is now almost within sight. "I had to really concentrate a lot today because there were so many tracks from the first day so I had to be really focused," he said.
Tomorrow (Friday) is the final day of the UAE Desert Challenge and the competitive action is split into two selective sections. The fifth sandy 122.45 km selective starts on the edge of the Al Dhafrah road to the east of the Humeem desert highway and passes the Haleeba mast focal point and Sheikh Zayed’s hunting patrol station, before finishing 68 km south of the Al Ain truck road. A 103.85 km liaison guides crews to the start of the final 163.90 km competitive section north of the Al Ain highway at Khatam. The selective finishes south of the Dubai Autodrome, near to Bab Al Shams and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum’s endurance village at L’Isaili. A 44.85 km liaison takes crews on to the ceremonial finish at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) in Mina Seyahi, around 30 km west of Dubai.
Where to watch the action - Friday
- Castrol Special Stage 5 (122.45km)
Starts 7.35am on edge of Al Dhafrah Road - 25kms north of Hameem ADNOC station. This stage is all on sand tracks passing Haleeba mast and Sheikh Zyed’s Anti-Hunting patrol station. Photo viewing opportunities during first 10kms.
- Hertz Special Stage 6 (163.90kms)
Starts 1040am on north side of Abu Dhabi - Al Ain highway at Khatam. Route passes through underpass a few kms south of Sweihan before heading north to Nahil Town. Finish is by Sheikh Mohammed’s Endurance Stables at L’Isaili
Provisional leading positions after Nissan 4th special stage
Cars
01) Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard (F) | Mitsubishi Pajero Evo | 14:02:09
02) Stephane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) | Mitsubishi Pajero Evo | 14:22:54
03) Jean Louis Schlesser/Emmanuel Guigou (F) | Schlesser Ford | 14:34:05
04) Carlos Sousa/Andreas Schulz (P/D) | VW Race Touareg | 14:41:21
05) Nasser Al Attiyah/Alain Guehennec (QA/F) | X-Raid BMW X3CC | 15:09:36
06) Jutta Kleinschmidt/Tina Thorner (D/S) | X-Raid BMW X3CC | 15:40:35
07) Hiroshi Masuoka/Pascal Maimon (J/F) | Mitsubishi Pajero Evo | 15:42:26
08) Jose Luis Monterde/Jean-Marie Lurquin (E/B) | X-Raid BMW X5CC | 16:05:21
09) Yahya Alhelei/Khalid Alkendi (UAE) | Chevrolet | 17:28:11
10) Ahmad Bin Suqat/Abdul Bari Bin Suqat (UAE) | Chevrolet | 18:22:42
Bikes
01) Marc Coma (E) | KTM 660 LC4 | 14:53:46
02) Cyril Despres (F) | KTM 660 LC4 | 15:12:24
03) Jordi Viladoms (E) | KTM 660 LC4 | 15:23:33
04) David Casteu (F) | KTM 660 LC4 | 15:26:40
05) Christopher Blais (USA) | KTM 660 LC4 | 15:26:40
06) Pal Anders Ullevalsetter (N) | KTM 660 Rally | 15:31:24
07) Frans Verhoeven (NL) | KTM 660 LC4 | 15:37:26
08) Sean Linton (GB) | Honda 450 CRF | 17:01:11
09) Sebastian Husseini (NL) | Suzuki 450 LTR | 17:08:39
10) Oscar Polli (I) | KTM 450 Rally | 17:22:55
2006/11/09 | 22:22 CET | Editor: UAE Live Team, Tony Lewis
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