Stage 12: The site chosen in El Salvador at high altitude towers over the usual location of the bivouac in Copiapo. This position will ensure that the Camanchaca, the morning mist which sometimes hinders the start of the stages, will be avoided. Sand will be featured on the route again, in particular with a big string of dunes to be overcome at the end of the special stage. And if there are dunes, this automatically means that vehicles will be blocked in the sand! Therefore, in the categories where competitors are neck and neck, the leaders may put themselves at risk.
It is with a lead of 59″ over Gerard de Rooy that Andrey Karginov has reached the time check point at 229km. Third placed Eduard Nikolaev trails his team-mate by 2′12″.
Along with his team-mate Jan Tomanek, Ales Loprais (Tatra) has stopped after 168 km. He was in the leading group in the truck special. There is no info at the moment if he continued, but he is missing in the CP rankings.
In the end, de Rooij beated Karginov by just 31 seconds, though Karginov stays in the lead of the overall rankings.
Loprais’problem was a cracked hose from the compressor. He managed to repair his truck, but he lost about 2hrs 45 seconds. In the end, Loprais finished 32nd, loosing 2 hrs 53 min on stage winner de Rooi. He dropped in the overall rankings to 6th spot, 5 hrs 10 min after overall leader Karginov.