Team MAN stage five notes

Stage 5 -- Neuquen--San Rafael
Total length: 763 km
Liaison: 173 km, Special: 506 km, liaison: 84 km

Today, stage 5 went from Neuquen to San Rafael. It was a really tough, edge-of-your-seat race, where the fight in front went between the three Russians and the Dutchman Gerard de Rooy, while halfway through the race, the MAN Rally teams Echter and Stacey took over. Franz Echter was in a steady 5th position throughout the race, ending in this same position at + 00:56:01 from winner Kabirov. Hans Stacey, who started in 13th position, was able to fight his way back to a 4th position until long after CP2. Unfortunately, Stacey fell back during the last few kilometres and crossed the finish line in 8th position. When this report was written, Geert Verhoeven had not come in yet.

After spotting the first sand dunes yesterday, the participants had to cross the real sand dunes for a stretch of no less than 20 kilometres. Furthermore, long off-road stretches were alternated with plenty of technical tests en route, which made today a real trial.

Tomorrow, we will continue the route to Mendoza. It will be a 625 km leg, including a 395 km special. The special will be another tough one, with some 60 kilometre of dunes to start out with. As for soil condition and degree of difficulty, South-America is a match for Africa.

-credit: man