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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: Sainz wins before Alphand and Al Attiyah.
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Carlos Sainz and his Codriver Michel Périn finished the today´s opening selective section of the UAE Desert Challenge 2006 in front of the French Mitsubishi-Pilot and Dakar-Winner Luc Alphand and the Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah in his X-Raid BMW X3CC. Alphand´s Team mates Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret had been the fastest crew through an earlier passage control on the desert debut of the new MPR13 version of the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution, but lost valuable time in soft sand and damaged the car´s steering in the process of reaching the stage finish.
Alphand and Picard began the day in second position and quickly passed Marc Corbett´s Nissan Pick-Up, enabling them to lead the car category through the stage. They were third at PC1 and fourth at PC2. "The objective was to set a good pace from the start, because you never know when you are the first car in the stage what the actual pace of the other cars can be," said Alphand. "It was easier than I thought. Marc Corbett was pushing quite hard in the Nissan and the bikes were making some tracks, which were easy to follow. I am happy today and in a good position for tomorrow."
The stage was held in punishing heat and humidity and was an excellent endurance test for MMSP´s new MPR13 which had turned a competitive wheel for the first time in Sunday´s Super Special stage. "We were going well, having a good stage," said co-driver Cottret. "Then we got caught in some soft sand in a dune and lost around 25-30 minutes. We also damaged the steering, so we had to finish the stage with power steering problems."
Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon started the stage fourth on the road and held sixth at PC1, but lost time in the subsequent section with navigational problems. "We were running well," said Masuoka. "The stage was very fast, but then we made a small navigational problem and I think it cost us a few minutes."
The hustle and bustle of Dubai´s congested road network was a far cry from the remote and small tree-lined desert highways of the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi for teams this morning. Following the ceremonial start on the picturesque Corniche of the UAE´s commercial capital, the opening competitive stage began at Al-Dafrah and took place over fast sand flats and high-speed gravel tracks. There were three passage controls at the 78.24km, 172.87 km and 234.18 km points.
Meanwhile, service and assistance vehicles reached the Moreeb Hill bivouac, nestled in the shadow of a giant sand dune, via an asphalt highway, passing the renowned "Rainbow Sheikh´s" (Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al-Nahyan) eccentric and remote car museum and traversing the desert towns of Tharwaniyah and Mizairah and the oasis settlement and birthplace of the late UAE ruler Sheikh Zayed at remote Liwa,
"It was a good start for Luc and Gilles and they are in a good position for tomorrow," said MMSP´s Managing and Sporting Director Dominique Serieys. "Stéphane proved that the MPR13 is competitive, but he has had problems today. But this is just the start. We will see what the position will be on Friday afternoon. I think that Stéphane is in a good position now to push hard over the next few days."
Positions on SS1 unofficial @ 13.33 CET
01) Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) | VW Race Touareg | 02:42:55
02) Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) | Mitsubishi Evo | 02:46:38
03) Nasser Al-Attiyah (QA)/Alain Guehennec (F) | BMW X3 CC | 02:48:13
04) Ari Vatanen (FIN)/Fabrizia Pons (I) | VW Race Touareg | 02:49:31
05) Carlos Sousa (P)/Andreas Schulz (D) | VW Race Touareg | 02:50:15
06) Hiroshi Masuoka (J)/Pascal Maimon (F) Mitsubishi Evo | 02:53:55
08) S. Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) | Mitsubishi Evo | 03:09:53
Positions after leg 1 unofficial @ 13.40 CET
01) Carlos Sainz (E)/Michel Périn (F) | VW Race Touareg | 02:46:01
02) Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) | Mitsubishi Evo | 02:49m 29
03) Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Alain Guehennec (F) | BMW X3 CC | 02:50:12
04) Ari Vatanen (FIN)/Fabrizia Pons (I) | VW Race Touareg | 02:52:27
05) Carlos Sousa (P)/Andreas Schulz (D) | VW Race Touareg | 02:53:07
06) Hiroshi Masuoka (J)/Pascal Maimon (F) | Mitsubishi Evo | 02:56:17
09) S. Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) | Mitsubishi Evo | 03:12:49
2006/11/06 | 10:59 CET | Editor: UAE Live Team, Neil Perkins
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