'We can still win it' - De Villiers

Published Jan 15, 2015

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Salta, Argentina - Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won his fourth stage in the Dakar Rally in Argentina on Wednesday, the ninth win in 10 days for Mini, as he closed in on a second overall win.

After crossing the Andes from Calama in Chile, the mammoth 859km stage - 371km of it timed - saw Al-Attiyah extend his overall lead to more than 28 minutes over South African Giniel de Villiers, in a works Toyota Hilux, the 2009 race winner.

Al-Attiyah said afterwards: “It wasn't an easy day and I think the last few days must've seen a lot of rain which deepened the holes on the course.

“That's what made Nani Roma’s car turn over, but he's fine. We're here and I'm happy because I think we clocked a good time, we're doing our job every day and the rest isn't my problem.

“We need to get to the finish but I'm happy with how things are going, we've been leading the rally since the start in Buenos Aires - the only mishap we've had is the day we lost a wheel,” added the 44-year-old who also won the race in 2011.

‘A RATHER CALM DAY’

Spaniard Nani Roma, the defending champion and winner of the ninth stage on Tuesday, was close to abandoning after seriously damaging his Mini at the 193km mark while De Villiers believes he can still take overall victory.

He said: “We had a rather calm day, I didn't push too hard, especially after we saw what had happened to Nani.

“It just goes to show you can always be caught unawares and suffer an accident but Nasser's too far ahead, it makes no sense to take risks.

“We won't be able to catch him unless he makes mistakes, but it can happen. Yesterday was a disappointment, but we still believe in our chances, you never know.

“It ain't over yet. Things are good, on balance, because we know we're still in the fight for the win.”

De Villiers did enough to keep some pressure on Nasser, despite difficulties of his own. He arrived at the start of the stage without any problems, but when he fastened his racing harness he found that one of the locating pins had misaligned. He managed to fasten the belts but had a nagging worry about the integrity of his harness throughout the stage.

 "Today's stage was long and tricky, with many traps to catch you out," he said. "To tackle that while worrying about your own safety just makes it so much harder, and I couldn't shake that feeling."

De Villiers' concerns were proved to be valid when 2014 winner, and the fastest man on Stage 9, Nani Roma crashed out in spectacular fashion. The Spaniard hit an unmarked ditch in the road at high speed, and rolled his Mini to destruction. Fortunately neither he nor navigator Michel Perin was hurt but it shows how even the best in the game can be caught out.

CLEAN RUN

De Villier's works Toyota team-mate Leeroy Poulter started the day in 18th overall, and pulled away as the 37th car on the stage; starting positions are determined by the results of the previous stage, not overall rally standings.

This put him behind not only a mass of other competitors in the car categories, but also behind five massive racing trucks, which are notoriously difficult to pass.

"We just had one of those rare, clean runs on the Dakar," said an elated Poulter from the nearly flooded bivouac at Salta.

"We overtook all five trucks and thirteen cars on the special - and when we finished we had recorded the fourth fastest time on the stage. This puts us in a great starting position for Thursday, just ahead of Giniel."

Nissan Navara driver Johan van Staden from Middelburg put up his best stage performance of the rally so far; he came in 30th, exactly half an hour behind Al-Attiyah – but such is the nature of the Dakar Rally that he lost two places overall, dropping down to 32nd.

MOTORCYCLES

Joan Barreda Bort of Spain rode his Honda to a third stage win, with defending champion Marc Coma extending his overall lead to nearly eight minutes with three days to go.

Barrada Bort's chances of overall victory in the motorcycle race were shattered when he lost more than four hours due to mechanical problems on the stage to Iquique, Chile, on Monday.

But he had better luck on the run to Salta and crossed the line more than 90sec ahead of KTM's Coma and nearly two minutes in front of Portugal's Ruben Faria.

Four-times champion Coma added nearly two minutes to his advantage over his closest rival in the overall standings, Honda rider Paulo Goncalves of Portugal, who only came home fifth on the stage.

Should Spain's Coma be crowned champion at the end of the race on Saturday in Buenos Aires, it will be the 14th straight triumph for Austrian constructor KTM.

KTM rider Albert Hintenaus from Cape Town - the only South African still running on two wheels - kept plugging along, finishing Stage 10 more than an hour behind the leaders to be classified 54th for the day, and move up five places to 45th overall.

AFP

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