Dakar: Stage 13 Kayes to Tambacounda notes

Kayes to Tambacounda
Connection: 180 km - Special: 260 km - Connection: 18 km
Total: 458 km

General:

05:27 - STAGE 13: KAYES - TAMBACOUNDA
458 km, including 260 against the clock, are on the menu of the thirteenth stage. A very fast route awaits the participants. Rally pilots will again have an opportunity of having a whale of a time, even if copilots will still have to work on finding the right route in this maze of crisscrossing trails looping around baobabs. A made-to-measure playground for the Volkswagen that will try to get a new stage victory again while the Mitsubishi will mainly try not to make the same mistakes as they made last year on this same section.

09:37 - START OF LIVE COVERAGE
Welcome to all. Spaniard Isidre Esteve, winner of the 12th special stage yesterday, was the first to get to grips with today's special stage, at 08.05 GMT as scheduled.

Bike:

10:03 - Casteu leads after 34km
No. 8, DAVID CASTEU - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Now that the first 7 bikes have completed 34 km, Frenchman Casteu is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 1" ahead of Spanish team-mate Isidre Esteve and 1'05 in front of Brazilian Jean De Azevedo.

10:08 - 3rd best time for Marchini after 34 km
No. 20, MICHEL MARCHINI - YAMAHA, SUPER PRODUCTION
Now that the first 20 bikes have completed 34 km, Corsican biker Michel Marchini has recorded the third best time of the day's special so far, 28" behind provisional leader David Casteu, but 13" ahead of Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, place respectively in 4th and 5th.

10:42 - Despres leads after 71 km
No. 2, CYRIL DESPRES - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Now that the first 20 bikes have completed 71 km, Frenchman Cyril Despres is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 11" and 1'33 ahead of countrymen Michel Marchini and Thierry Bethys respectively.

10:46 - Coma on the wrong track
No. 1, MARC COMA - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Having made a navigation error after 35 km, Spaniard Marc Coma, leader of the general rankings, is currently taking a parallel route to the ideal track for the day's special stage, around 6 km away. He is accompanied by Polish rider Jacek Czachor.

11:35 - Despres leads at CP1
No. 2, CYRIL DESPRES - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Now that the first 16 bikes have passed through CP1 (after 149 km), Frenchman Cyril Despres is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 3'46 ahead of American Chris Blais and 5'03 in front of Latvian Janis Vinters.

11:38 - It's all over for Coma...
No. 1, MARC COMA - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Having lost his direction after 34 km of the day's special stage, and whilst he was following a track parallel to the ideal route, leader of the general rankings Spaniard Marc Coma, has crashed after 57 km of the special stage and has been taken back to the bivouac by helicopter.

11:41 - No better for Esteve...
No. 4, ISIDRE ESTEVE - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Having fallen 500 m from CP1, but fortunately without injury, Spaniard Isidre Esteve has been forced to drop out since his bike is broken beyond repair.

Car:

12:00 - Peterhansel leads after 34 km
No. 302, PETERHANSEL/COTTRET - MITSUBISHI, SUPER PRODUCTION
With the first 13 cars through the 34 km mark, the leader of the general rankings, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 22" ahead of American Mark Miller and 58" in front of Spaniard Carlos Sainz.

12:12 - Peter leads after 70 km
No. 302, PETERHANSEL/COTTRET - MITSUBISHI, SUPER PRODUCTION
With the first 11 cars through the 70 km mark, the leader of the general rankings, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 9" ahead of American Mark Miller and 2'57" in front of Spaniard Carlos Sainz.

12:41 - Besson rips off front end assembly
No. 376, BESSON/KORNSTEIN - MERCEDES, PRODUCTION
Frenchman Jean-Pascal Besson and his co-pilot Yves Kornstein have suffered a broken front end assembly after 7 km of the day's special stage. They are trying to repair it whilst awaiting their assistance.

Bike:

12:59 - News about Coma
No. 1, MARC COMA - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Following a crash after 57 km of the day's special stage, Spanish rider Marc Coma is suffering from a head injury. However, the Spaniard did not lose consciousness and was able to speak with Team Manager Jordi Arcarons, before being transported to Dakar to undergo further examinations.

13:02 - Esteve wants to get back on track...
No. 4, ISIDRE ESTEVE - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Having fallen 500 m from CP1, an accident which caused a significant amount of damage to his bike, Spaniard Isidre Esteve still harbours hopes of repairing the damage and is awaiting his assistance.

13:22 - Provisional stage victory for Despres
No. 2, CYRIL DESPRES - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Now that the first 23 bikes have completed the day's special stage, Frenchman Cyril Despres has provisionally won his 2nd special in the rally, 3'49 ahead of South African Tom Classen and 6'07 in front of American Chris Blais.

Car:

13:33 - Besson back on track...
No. 376, BESSON/KORNSTEIN - MERCEDES, PRODUCTION
Having broken their front end assembly after 7 km of the day's special, the French crew of Jean-Pascal Besson and co-pilot Yves Kornstein having succeeded with stop-gap repairs and have set off again on the special stage.

Truck:

14:11 - De Azevedo leads after 70 km
No. 503, DE AZEVEDO/JUSTO/MARTINEC -- TATRA
With the first 35 trucks through the 70 km mark, Brazilian Andre De Azevedo is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 45" ahead of the leader of the general rankings, Dutchman Hans Stacey, and 54" in front of Czech Ales Loprais.

Car:

14:13 - Sainz is the provisional stage winner
No. 303, SAINZ/PERIN - VOLKSWAGEN, SUPER PRODUCTION
Now that the first 9 cars have finished the 13th special stage, Spaniard Carlos Sainz has won his 4th stage victory on this Dakar 2007, 26" ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel and 2'18 in front of American Mark Miller.

Bike:

14:44 - Esteve on his way again...
No. 4, ISIDRE ESTEVE - KTM, SUPER PRODUCTION
Having crashed 500 m from CP1 and badly damaged his bike, Spaniard Isidre Esteve has succeeded in repairing his bike by taking spare parts from the abandoned bike of Marc Coma and is now at teh 142 km mark of the day's special stage.

Truck:

15:03 - Loprais leads at CP1
No. 512, LOPRAIS/GILAR -- TATRA
Now that the first 15 trucks have passed through CP1 (after 149 km), Czech Ales Loprais is the virtual leader of the day's special stage, 1'42 ahead of Dutchman Hans Stacey, leader of the general rankings, and 2'33 in front of Russian Ilgizar Mardeev.

15:39 - Hoebeke repairs...
No. 537, HOEBEKE/GOORMANS -- RENAULT
Following a wheel problem, the Belgian team of Roland Hoebeke and Luc Goormans are currently halted after 63 km of the special stage and are trying to repair before setting off again.

Bike:

15:42 - Penalty for Classen
No. 146, TOM CLASSEN - KTM, MARATHON
Third-placed after the end of the special, South African Tom Classen has received an 8-minute time penalty for leaving the petrol CP before his scheduled time. As a result, Classen is now classed 6th in the special stage 8'33 behind provisional winner Cyril Despres. 3'46 behind the Frenchman, American Chris Blais is now in 2nd place, 1'17 ahead of Latvian Janis Vinters, now third.

Truck:

15:47 - Loprais is provisional winner
No. 512, LOPRAIS/GILAR -- TATRA
Now that the first 6 trucks have finished the 13th special stage, Czech Ales Loprais has picked up his first stage victory on the rally, 3'25 ahead of Dutchman Hans Stacey, leader of the general rankings, and 6'39 in front of Russian Ilgizar Mardeev.

Bike:

17:01 - Stage 13 summary
Pending validation, Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM) recorded his 16th scratch time stage victory on the Dakar, his 2nd this year, with a time of 3.00'56, 6'07 ahead of American Chris Blais (KTM), and 11'43 in front of Frenchman Thierry Bethys (HONDA), who also won in the 450 cc category. However, the day was dominated by the withdrawal of Spaniard Marc Coma, who left his position as rally leader to Cyril Despres, 35'28 in front of his countryman David Casteu. In the Marathon category, South African Tom Classen (KTM) tasted victory, with an excellent 4th-placed scratch time. Finally, in the quad category, Spaniard Jose Maria Pena (KTM) was victorious.

Car:

17:05 - Stage 13 summary
Pending validation, Spaniard Carlos Sainz (VW) recorded his 8th scratch time stage victory on the Dakar, his 4th this year with a time of 2.30'22, 26" ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi), who remained on top of the general rankings with an 11'15 lead over team-mate Luc Alphand (Mitsubishi). 3rd place of the day went to American Mark Miller (VW). In the two-wheel drive category, Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser (Buggy Schlesser) triumphed with the 5th-placed scratch time. In the Open category, the American Robby Gordon (Hummer) was victorious with the 11th-placed scratch time. Finally, in the production category, Spaniard Xavier Foj (Toyota) tasted victory.

Truck:

17:08 - Stage 13 summary
Pending validation, Czech Ales Loprais (Tatra) recorded his first special stage victory on the Dakar with a time of 3.17'43, 3'25 ahead of Dutchman Hans Stacey (Man), who strengthened even further his position of general rankings leader with a lead of 3.02'50 over Russian Ilgizar Mardeeva, who was 3rd today.

General:

18:43 - 304 vehicles made it through the special stage
At 17.30 GMT, 136 bikes, 109 cars and 59 trucks had made it through the thirteenth special stage and were heading for or had already arrived at the bivouac in Tambacounda, the finishing point of this 13th stage. Only four trucks were still in the day's timed section.

-credit: dakar.com