The Tatra driver, whose victory in the previous stage was his first and ended a streak of 24 successive stage victories shared between the Russian duo of Firdaus Kabirov and Vladimir Chagin.

Kabirov and Chagin, both driving Kamaz trucks, took second and third respectively.

Kabirov now has a 16 minute 22 second lead in the overall standings from Loprais, whose victory lifted him to second place. Chagin trails 12 minutes further back.

Overall results after stage 7

Zdroj: www.dakar.com

Though the Africa Eco Race was decided at an earlier stage, all competitors had to drive the ultra short final stage to Lac Rose. Tomecek’s position was never endangered and he became the overall winner. CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

 The Africa Eco Race started on December 29, 2010 in Nador, Morocco, and continued over 12 days and 6,000 kilometres through Mauritania to ‘lac Rose’ in Senegal.

WATCH VIDEO OF FINAL STAGE:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmDg7XFPw00&feature=player_embedded

12th Stage standings

Overall standing of Africa Eco Race 2011

Dakar 2011 – A review of the first six stages

The first week of the Dakar Rally was a triumph for Volkswagen: they have led the rally from day one, and won five of six stages. After taking the first four places during yesterday’s stage, the German car manufacturer is firmly in command of the overall standings with their top drivers Carlos Sainz and Nassar Al-Attiyah. The only real remaining threat for VW is the BMW piloted by Stephane Peterhansel, but he is already almost 15 minutes behind the two VW drivers.  

The story of the trucks is similar to the cars, as the almighty Russian Kamaz team is leading the overall standings for the sixth consecutive day, Russians Firdaus Kabirov and Vladimir Chagin are leading the truck rankings, while Czech Tatra driver Ales Loprais is third. Chagin has won three stages, Kabirov two and Loprais one. The rest of the trucks are already more than one and a half hours behind the leaders, again it seems like the top three will be battling for the overall victory. But it is still Dakar, one strike of bad luck and the rally is over, many cars and trucks have already been eliminated the past week.

TThe rally really kicked off on Sunday with a special stage from Victoria to Cordoba in Argentina, a mountainous route with narrow tracks where overtaking was difficult. The drivers and riders were surprised by rain. Two trucks had to retire from the rally during stage one. The Ginaf of Dutchman Wulfert van Ginkel crashed hard on the motorway on its way to the start of the stage. His truck hit a piece of metal which pierced his right front tyre, the tyre exploded and sent van Ginkel’s truck into a frightening summersault before it crashed into the barrier. The truck was a total loss, but fortunately neither of the occupants were seriously injured. Bad luck for Dutchman Gerard de Rooy as well, his Iveco hit a bump, landed hard and de Rooy injured his back and had to retire. He flew back to the Netherlands and the next day x-ray images revealed he had sustained a hairline crack in one of his vertebrae.

IStage two was from Cordoba to San Miguel de Tucuman, a stage through a bumpy forest track and bushy terrain, and again the riders and drivers were surprised by heavy rain.  Kamaz drivers Chagin and Kabirov battled for first and second position, but Chagin ran into technical problems and his team colleague Kabirov took the stage win and became the leader in the truck standings.

Stage three was from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy, the first part was through the desert, the second part through mountainous forested terrain. Chagin did what everyone expected him to do, and made up for the time he lost the day before, and finished 6m45s ahead of Kabirov, who lost the lead in the truck standings to Chagin again.

Stage four led from San Salvador de Jujuy to Calama, the relatively short route of 207 km went over the Andes mountains, with the arrival in Chili. Truck ‘Tsar’ Chagin again won the stage, and left no doubt about his goal this year: to win the rally for the seventh time. After the fourth stage he was leading the overall standings, followed by Kabirov and Tatra driver Loprais. Fourth was the MAN of German Franz Echter, but he is 46m08s behind the leader, the second fastest MAN of Dutchman Marcel van Vliet is in tenth place.

Stage five was the first very difficult stage, a 423 km long stage from Calama to Iquique, which led through dunes and the huge sandy hills of the Attacama desert, but with a great reward: the last few kilometers was up a huge sandy hill, once at the top the drivers overlooked the finish and the bivouac at Iquique, with the ocean on the background. The last two kilometers were downhill at an 32 degree angle, for some of the bikes too steep, as the fuel in the tank couldn’t reach the engine anymore, and the engine cut off, and they had to freewheel down the hill in the deep sand, sometimes at speeds of over 150 km.

During this stage many competitors got into real trouble, many riders fell and damaged their bike, many drivers got stuck in the sand and needed assistance to free their car or truck, many got lost in the desert, in other words: the Dakar Rally at its best. Navigation was difficult. A bad stage for Kamaz driver Chagin, he became fourth and lost the lead to Kabirov who scored his second stage victory. Chagin entered into stage six on friday, 13m36s behind Kabirov, while Loprais started more than 25 minutes behind the leader.

Stage six led from Iquique to Arica, a true monster stage of 456 km, with a lot of navigation, and a sea of endless sand dunes, a stage that stretched the limits of man and machine. For the trucks an extraordinary difficult stage, they had to take huge risks to ensure they didn’t get stuck in the sand dunes with their heavy trucks. Many of them got stuck on the sharp top ridges of the huge sand dunes, and needed help from the service teams or passing competitors to free their truck. Once out of the sand, it was down the dune again, turn around, and try to gain enough speed and momentum to this time hopefully get over the crest at the second attempt. Other trucks rolled over on their side on the steep dunes, and also had to wait for assistance to get their truck back on four wheels again.

Kamaz driver Kabirov was once again faster than Chagin, but it was Loprais’ Tatra that won the stage. Kamaz had so far dominated the rally, and Loprais’ goal is a podium place. “We are just one Tatra here against an army of six trucks from Russia,” the Czech said. “But we will keep on pushing, that’s our goal, we would like to target the podium at least,” he added. 

After having lost the two green Tatras of the czechdakarteam, one of the crews seriously injured, in earlier stages, Tatra’s Andre de Azevedo, 6th overall after stage 5, had to retire with mechanical problems.

Saturday’s rest day isn’t a rest day for everyone, while the top drivers can rest, catch some sleep and gather new energy for the next stage, many of the lesser gods have to service their own vehicles, repair broken parts, or shop for spare parts at other teams. Many of the service and backup trucks haven’t made it to Arica, and the Iveco trucks don’t have enough spare parts, as one of the Iveco service trucks went up in flames, and all spare parts were lost too.

The next stage will be on Sunday (today), and goes from Arica to Antofagasta, the longest special stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally. The stage is divided into two timed sections, and there is a special route for the bikes and quads. Many drivers and riders have had little sleep, and had to work hard during the past seven days, but they have one thing in common: they simply do not want to give up, and have set their sight to the arrival in Buenos Aires next week.

This ultimate official stage was really interesting in the truck category. First to start this morning, the MAN of the Belgian Noel Essers was lying on its side 25 km after the start. Tomas Tomecek (Tatra), Elisabete Jacinto (MAN), Michel Salavatore (Mercedes) and their teammates tried to help the red truck; but after an hour of tries, they had to ask the balais truck for some help. At the end of the stage, the Czech Tomecek and Moravek won logically this edition, ahead of Elisabete Jacinto MAN’s. Noel Essers, unlucky today, will maybe lost his third place in the overall classification because of this misfortune…

In stage 11 Tomecek did what he had to do: No risks but defending his comfortable lead. The results:

Standing after 11th stage

Four times winner of the Dakar, co-pilot Josef Kalina, 62 years old, has been recalled to the race by the Loprais clan to assist Ales in the Tatra truck that hopes to challenge the Kamaz vehicles. The rebellion started in Arica, with an already historic stage victory for the Czechs.

Since his beginnings as a driver, Ales Loprais has a fixed goal to which he devotes all his energy: winning the Dakar. Brought up in the world of trucks in a family that spent many of its winters on the bivouacs of the rally, the heir of the dynasty currently occupies third place in the general standings. But this year, in the cab, a last minute recruit was hired to make up for the withdrawal of his usual navigator. The idea came from Milan, Ales’s father, who called on Josef Kalina, a four times winner of the Dakar as a co-pilot during the era of Karel Loprais’s domination: “I’ve known Ales since he was a child and he considers me to be like an uncle, so I thought it was a good idea. The aim is to pass on my experience to him and for the moment he is listening to my advice, even though he is a bit of a wild man,” explains this top of the range substitute. 

Whilst Josef Kalina continued to participate in the rally in slower trucks or as a team manager, his participation with Ales Loprais represents a genuine return to the top level since his last victory with Karel during the 2001 edition. For this 62 year old, adapting to racing again is tough: “It’s not a game for old men, truck driving at this pace. You’re shaken all over the place for hours on end and it’s physically exhausting. I used to play ice hockey and after each special, it feels like I’ve just finished a match. In comparison, cars are like children’s toys”. Despite his modesty, Josef seems to have made a major contribution to the smooth running of the Tatra belonging to Ales, who is amazed by the behaviour of his racing partner: “It’s incredible what he is able to do at his age. Imagine if everyone could handle that, carrying out precision work right throughout the specials”.As a regular on the first step of the podium, Kalina can lay claim to a record that has stood for the last 17 years and which is still one of his best memories: “In 1994, during the Paris-Dakar-Paris, we won the category with the 6th best overall time, including the cars as well”.

The senior member of crew 504 thus experienced a time when Tatra dominated the rest of the field. The former domination of the Czech trucks has now been taken over by the reign of the Kamaz team, which won 24 consecutive stages on the Dakar. However, this series was brought to a sudden halt in Arica by Ales Loprais, whose perseverance was rewarded with a second special stage victory, 4 years after his first triumph in Tambacounda. This success hardly changes the race situation, but Kalina cannot prevent himself for hoping the trend is bucked: “We always race to win, even at the age of 62. The Kamaz team is extremely professional, much more so than us, since we all have professions outside racing. They have the total support of a powerful constructor and as a result they have all the trump cards. But we were able to stop their series of wins. Already in Iquique, we would’ve won if we hadn’t got a flat tyre, and in Arica we managed to come out on top. Now that we’ve won once, that might throw a spanner in their works, because perhaps there may be a psychological weakness in the Russian temperament”. A speech that will delight the ambitious Ales Loprais!

www.dakar.com

The succes of Loprais in the Dakar has put the misfortune of Andre de Azevedo in the shadow. With Tomas Tomecek competing in the Africa Eco Race, Andree de Azevedo was the sole representative of the Letka Racing Team in the truck class. Regrettably, the 6th stage meantr a retirement for the crew of Tatra n.508 – André Azevedo, Maykel Justo, Jaromír Martinec.

When descending a dune, the Tatra suffered an accident when the half-axle was bent and steering was damaged. The repairs have already taken an hour and a half, but the vehicle is, in fact, immobile. The assistance Tatra driven by Petr Vodák is heading towards the crew. The crew is in good health, but sadly it must withdraw from this year’s competition.

Update, 18:35: Míra Martinec: “We’ve got broken steering servo, we are slowly making our way to Iquique, the vehicle has problems when turning. The accident was a jump out of the ideal track while hitting a counter-slope at the right front side.

Lots of thanks for your support during this year’s Dakar Rally

Ales Loprais secures his 3rd overall in a draconian Stage 6 as all stages before the rest day are usually gruelling ones.

The organisers prepared another tough menu for Stage 6 in the Atacama desert. It was a stage full of dunes, dune mountans, sand, fechefeche, clouds of dust in an unmanned landscape with no life. What a s typical Stacama stage! Fortunately, the starting order for trucks was already mixed with cars and so all truck drivers could enjoy open spaces without slower vehicles on the way. Ales backed up a bit at the beginning f stage stage, losing 6 minutes to Kabirov before WP2. Then he started to close the gap together with Chagin, at some point of the stage all three of them were spread within one minute! Later on, at the end of the stage, Chagin had a puncture and Ales Loprais continued attacking on Kabirov. He passed the Russian and added 3m55s to reach his first stage win this year.

Overall, everything remains the same. Ales keeps his 3rd position but the gap of TOP3 drivers is smalled now, only 19 minutes. The fourt on, Nikolaev, is almost one-and-half hours adrift of Kabirov. The only one to face the Kamaz squad further is Franz Echter who, however, lost more than one hour today. Sadly, the rally continues without the Tatra of Andre de Azevedo who broke his front axle and retired. Just like every stage before the rest day, many competitors are expected to arrive really late

fter spending the opening week of the rally battling to keep pace with one Kamaz rig or another this stage finally saw Czech Tatra driver Ales Loprais put his name on a stage win.

4 years after winning his 1st stage victory on the Dakar, during the last special on the 2007 edition, Alès Loprais (Tatra) got the winning feeling back on this 6th special of the Dakar 2011. Taking full advantage of the problems encountered by the two leading drivers on the Kamaz team, the son of the mythical Karel, finally completed the day’s 423 timed kilometres 5′55 ahead of Russian Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz)and 9′39 in front of Russian Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz). Loprais’s success brings to a close the series of 24 consecutive stage victories for Kamaz on the Dakar.In the general standings, Kabirov is still comfortably in the lead, 19′20 ahead of his team leader Chagin, and 21′25 in front of Alès Loprais.

It was Loprais’ second career Dakar stage win – the other coming back in Africa in 2007 – and proved the Kamaz’s were not unstoppable. Indeed, given that the Russians Firdaus Kabirov and Vladimir Chagin, it is a credit to Loprais that his stage win puts him two minutes out of second place held by Chagin.

“The Kamaz drivers are so strong, with excellent technique and they are excellent drivers as well,” said Loprais. “But we will push. We are just one Tatra here against an army of trucks from Russia, but we will keep on pushing, that’s our goal and we would like to target the podium at least.”

“For sure it’s fantastic to win a special and it’s a great satisfaction for us. It was a really difficult stage. Even the first section in the dunes there was a lot of possibilities of getting a puncture. We were really organised to not get a flat tyre because in the last stage it happened and that cost us 20 minutes.”

‘The Tsar’ – the record holder for stage wins – could only muster third best today though he led the stage at several points, losing further time to Firdaus Kabirov who has a 19 minute lead over his teammate.

Eduard Nikolaev and Ilgizar Mardeev finished the stage fourth and fifth to put all four Kamaz units in the top five – a quick reminder to Ales Loprais about what he’s up against.

Results:

Overall:

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………

Belgian Noel Esers was today’s victor, making the best of the widely spread navigation difficulties. He was 1 1/2 hour faster than second finisher Elisabete Jacinto and third finisher Tomas Tomecek (Tatra), moving him up to 3rd place overall. Tomecek still leads overall by a comfortable margin though.