Dakar: Stage 14 Dakhla - Louxor notes

The special is staged on a forgotten track that was used by the camel caravans to go to Sudan. It is almost totally staged in the mountains and finishes with a very steep descent. The start of the special goes upwards like in a hill race on 5kms that take the competitors to a camel track. The track then becomes very rocky. The only visible details are centenary piles of stone about a metre high. The special is then totally off-piste. The competitors will have to find the good valley and find the right crossing to go downhill. This descent is the key point of the special. They will have to find at the top of cliffs a dune that will allow them to go down on a very steep kilometre. The rally then meets with history wih the archeological site of Karnak, the valley of Kings, the valley of Queens and quite a number of temples including that of Ramses II and the Pharaoh Queen Hatchepsout, the only women to have governed ancient Egypt.

Spectacular archeological site.

Photo by Nissan Europe.

Stage 14: Dakhla - Louxor
Thursday 16th January 2003

Liaison: 53 km - Special stage: 274 km - Liaison: 375 km - Total: 702 km

Motobikes:
09:41 - Two kilometres before CP1, (km169), Fabrizio Meoni (KTM - n.1) has had a bad crash and has broken the front of his bike (road book). The Italian is back on his bike but has lost considerable time.

09:41 - At CP1 after 171kms, Sainct (KTM - n3) has the best time. Despres (KTM - n.7) is 31sec behind. Brucy (KTM - n.9) is at 1min13 and Meoni (KTM - n.1) at 4min50.

Cars:
09:41 - Two kilometres after the start of the special, Jutta Klenschmidt (Volkswagen - n.203) has stopped and appears to have mechanical worries.

09:42 - At km 50, Hiroshi Masuoka (Mitsubishi - n.200) has punctutred a tyre.

Motobikes:
09:42 - At km 221, Meoni (KTM - n.1) has stopped to repair the front of his bike that appears to be very damaged after a fall earlier in the special. Again he has lost more time.

10:36 - On the finish line of the stage between Dakhla and Louxor (274kms), Sainct (KTM - n.3) has clocked the best time. Despres (KTM - n.7) is 8sec behind. Lundmark (KTM - n.16) is third at 9min32 followed by De Azevedo (KTM - n.25) at 11mn28, Brucy (KTM - n.9) at 11min42 and Flick (KTM - n.22) at 13min27. Meoni (KTM - n.1) finishes at 22min37.

In the new overall Sainct has a 11min20 lead on Despres and 39min21 on Meoni.

General Notes:
10:37 - 103 bikes, 63 cars ad 28 trucks remain in the race on the start line of the stage between Dakhla and Louxor (274kms). Has pulled out : Lassoued Abla (Mitsubishi - n.334).

Cars:
10:49 - At CP1 after 171kms, Ari Vatanen (Nissan - n.204) has the best time. Fontenay (Mitsubishi - n.202) is second at 57sec. Third is De Villiers (Nissan - n.17) at 1min32 followed by Alphand (BMW - n.221) at 3min05, Peterhansel (Mitsubishi - n.206) at 5min29 and Sousa (Mitsubishi - n.211) at 7min43.

Motobikes:
11:12 - On the finish line of the stage between Dakhla and Louxor (274kms), late starter Marc Coma (KTM - n.10) has clocked the third best time, 3min08 behind Sainct.

Cars:
11:46 - At CP2 after 215kms, Ari Vatanen (Nissan - n.204) still has the best time. Fontenay (Mitsubishi - n.202) is second at 1min35sec. Third is De Villiers (Nissan - n.217) at 3min28 followed by Alphand (BMW - n.221) at 3min54, Peterhansel (Mitsubishi - n.206) at 5min34 and Biasion (Mitsubishi - n.207) at 5min49, Masuoka (Mitsubishi - n.200) at 8min46, Sousa (Mitsubishi - n.211) at 9min25.

11:57 - On the finish line of the stage between Dakhla and Louxor (274kms), Alphand (BMW - n.221) has clocked the fastest time of the day. Second is Fontenay (Mitsubishi - n.202) at 22sec. Third is De Villiers (Nissan - n.217) at 1min06, followed by Vatanen (Nissan - n.204) at 2mn05, Biasion (Mitsubishi - n.207) at 3min11, Peterhansel (Mitsubishi - n.206) at 4min27, Masuoka (Mitsubishi - n.200) at 5min50 and Sousa (Mitsubishi - n.211) at 7min18.

In the new overall, Peterhansel has a 27min13 lead on Masuoka and 2h25min28 on Fontenay.

Truck:
12:11 - At CP1 after 171kms, Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz - n.412) has the best time. Second is Tchaguine (Kamaz - n.407) at 17min30. De Azevedo (Tatra - n.410) is at 17min40. De Rooy (Daf - n.409) is at 22min34.

Motobikes:
12:12 - At km 263, Alain Duclos (KTM n.102) crashed and hurt his neck. He appears to be suffering from a back trauma. His condition is not too worrying.

Truck:
12:53 - At CP2 after 215kms, Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz - n.412) has still the best time. Second is De Azevedo (Tatra - n.410) at 24min11. Third is Tchaguine (Kamaz - n.407) at 24min36. De Rooy (Daf - n.409) is at 28min39.

14:44 - On the finish line of the stage between Dakhla and Louxor (274kms), Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz - n.412) has clocked the best time of the day. Second is Tchaguine (Kamaz - n.407) at 29min13. Third is De Azevedo (Tatra - n.410) at 31min21. De Rooy (Daf - n.409) is at 41min17.

In the truck overall, Tchaguine has a 1h11min01 lead on De Azvedo and 2h22min41 on Kabirov.

-aso-