Friday, 7th January
Leg 6: Iquique – Arica“Guadal” as the locals say…Road section, 265 km
Special, 456 km
The exploration of the Atacama Desert this year brings the Dakar participants to Arica, the last town before the Peruvian border. For this large slice of desert before the rest day, the menu is full of dunes, whose sizes increase as the day passes by. But throughout the special stage, the riders and drivers will experience an alternation of sensations. After surfing on the dunes, most of them will get to grips with the unavoidable zones of fesh-fesh, or “guadal” as they are known in this part of the world. For the section of slaloming between dust and dry grass, patience is the competitors’ best ally.
In today’s stage, Loprais showed his teeth. Passing Control Points 1 and 2 in 4th place, he was second at CP 3 and leader at CP 4 30 sec. ahead of Kabirov, 5 minutes ahead of Chaguin and 10 min ahead of Nikolaev. Much can hapen at the remaining 93 km though. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
more news soon………