The infamous dunes of the Atacama Desert were on the menu again for stage six of the Dakar 2015
The biggest achievement of the race so far has to be the trio of consecutive victories for Team Kamaz Master trucker Eduard Nikolaev as the Russian made it four out of six daily wins on the route between Antofagasta and Iquique. This morning the 2013 champ had a lead of nearly 10 minutes and after today’s 277km of timed racing that advantage now stands at over 13 minutes from team-mate Ayrat Mardeev. The dominance of Team Kamaz Master in the truck race was further underlined by all four of their machines finishing the stage inside the top five.
While Nikolaev is emerging as a clear favourite to win his second Dakar title, so is Nasser Al-Attiyah in the car race. The Qatari maintained his impressive rhythm of a stage win every two days as he recorded the day’s fastest time among the cars. Doing his best to stay close to the Qatar Rally Team driver is South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers who stays second overall, over 11 minutes behind Nasser, following a second placed finish on the stage.
Also parked inside the top 10 overall is Stéphane Peterhansel of Team Peugeot-Total as the 11-time Dakar winner continues to guide the PEUGEOT 2008 DKR through its desert debut. Showing great resilience elsewhere in the car race today was Orlen Team’s Marek Dabrowski who battled back from mechanical problems on yesterday’s stage to record the 19th quickest time on the stage.
Yesterday’s sixth place finish in the bike race for Hélder Rodrigues was a clear sign that the Portuguese biker has put a tricky start to the race behind him and he backed that up today with a stage win. The top two bikers in the race are still Joan Barreda and Marc Coma even if the pair did ease off the pace slightly today. Joan finished the stage sixth and increased his advantage on Marc to over 12 minutes who came home in eighth.
The bikers and quad riders at the Dakar are rewarded with a much deserved rest day tomorrow while the cars and trucks stay on the road as they head to Bolivia for the first time. The stage will be the first half of a marathon stage for the cars and trucks, combined with racing at high altitude it’s a recipe for plenty more drama to come.
Results of SS6 (Cars):
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Qatar Rally Team 2h 37m 18s
2. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) Toyota +00:00:37
3. Nani Roma (ESP) Mini +00:01:24
19. Marek Dabrowski (POL) Toyota +00:29:14
20. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) Peugeot 2008 DKR +00:30:24
33. Cyril Despres (FRA) Peugeot 2008 DKR +00:59:19
Results of SS6 (Bikes):
1. Hélder Rodrigues (PRT) Honda 3h 40m 10s
2. Toby Price (AUS) KTM +00:01:10
3. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda +00:01:42
6. Joan Barreda (ESP) Honda +00:07:20
8. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM +00:09:14
9. Ruben Faria (POR) KTM +00:09:34
29. Jordi Viladoms (ESP) KTM +00:35:25
38. Kuba Przygonski (POL) KTM +00:44:07
86. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM +03:03:21
Results of SS6 (Trucks):
1. Eduard Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz 2h 54m 28s
2. Ayrat Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz +00:05:37
3. Andrey Karginov (RUS) Kamaz +00:10:40
4. Gerard de Rooy (NLD) Iveco +00:11:31
5. Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz +00:12:44
Quotes
Eduard Nikolaev: “It was necessary to keep concentrated on the entire stage today, but especially when we reached the dunes at the end. The dunes were quite small so it is difficult for the truck to pass over them and maintain balance. You need to get your path and your speed just right. It’s one of those challenges that make the Dakar such an interesting race.”
Giniel de Villiers: “For sure, we have to do our best every day. We know Nasser (Al-Attiyah) is very, very quick so it’s not easy to catch him, but we try our best and there are still a few days to come. It’s ok; it would be better if we could take some time from him, but I’m quite happy.”
Hélder Rodrigues: “I started very badly with my body at the beginning of this rally. I had three days that were not so good. On day four I had a problem with the bike due to mechanical problems, but today I had a good day and rode very fast. Of course, I’m happy and I have one week more to attack.”
Marc Coma: “I started first in the stage and I had a small crash at the beginning and this caused me to lose a bit of confidence in the first part. Then the rhythm was coming back again but the navigation was very difficult and it was very tough to find the way. Joan (Barreda) was always with me and he’s become my shadow the last three days.”
