After his misfortunes two days ago, Hans Stacey (Iveco) has made up for it today by winning the special stage with a time of 2:07′34″ in front of Eduard Nikolaev’s Kamaz (1′53″ behind). Also fighting back, the Iveco Petronas team leader, Gerard De Rooy (2′32″ behind Stacey) has grabbed third place in front of two other Kamaz trucks driven by Ayrat Mardeev (2′34″ behind the winner) and Andrey Karginov (3′05 behind). The first Tatra belongs to Czech driver Martin Kolomy, in fifth place, 3′54″ behind the stage leader.
Just before the 162-km point, with the finishing line in sight, Ales Loprais’ GPS is signalling that he has been at a standstill for several minutes. Slightly off the track, the Czech driver has not signalled any technical problems so may be stuck in the sand… As a result, he will lose first place in the truck category general standings.