News

Carlos Sainz and co-driver Timo Gottschalk have won stage 2 of the 2013 Dakar in their Qatar buggy equipped with Toyo Tires 37x13.5 R17 Open Country M/TR tires. With two wins from the first two stages, Sainz leads the rally by 5 minutes and 5 seconds from the X-Raid Mini of 2012 winner Peterhansel.

The second win was not without drama however, with Sainz initially being placed 10th after a problem with his official GPS system failing to register that the Qatar buggy had passed a waypoint. Sainz was forced to circle back, crossing and recrossing the waypoint until finally, with the GPS still recording that he had not passed the waypoint, he took the brave decision to abandon the fruitless search for the waypoint which he was certain he had passed and head for the finish. Some 15km later, the GPS suddenly began to show that Sainz had indeed passed the waypoint but by then, a lot of time had been lost. On arrival at the bivouac, Sainz was visibly upset and a review of the GPS data by the ASO proved he had good cause to be, having correctly passed the waypoint first time.

After the removal of the time spent circling back to the waypoint, Sainz was awarded first place in the stage with Peterhansel, the initial winner being deposed to second. The organisers seem to be in some disarray and although Sainz has been promoted, no explanation is currently provided on their website and initial 'winner' Peterhansel is still being quoted stating that the deciding factor in their 'win' was their navigation.

The second stage was the first 'proper' Dakar stage with 242km of dry earth, sand and dunes and it brought mixed fortunes for the teams running on Toyo Tires.

After having to change a gearbox at the end of stage one, Robby Gordon set off from 136th place and finished the stage in an astonishing 13th place. Gordon was able to get better speed out of his car through the wind and dust of the stage but estimated he also lost 20 minutes to GPS issues at the waypoint. He now lies 28th  overall, one place behind EV Racing.

Eric Vigouroux and co-driver, Jean Brucy had another torrid time on stage two. After accelerator cable problems on stage one stopped them from going flat out, they started the stage from 39th place. However, a combination of problems beset them on their way to a 28th place finish. The new ECU, developed to assist the truck maintain power to the 7 litre V8 Corvette engine caused the truck to run underpowered in this first proper stage. Restricted air intakes coupled with low oxygen at high altitudes made the new ECU a necessity to be competitive at altitude but clearly requires further tuning for the lower altitude stages. Eric also suffered GPS issues costing him more than 30 minutes while a rare deflation of his rear tires meant a 10 minute stop for changing these too. Even after these issues, Eric moved up to 27th overall, 53 minutes, 44 seconds behind the lead of Sainz.

Confusion also over the standing of the second Qatar buggy driven by 2011 Dakar winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatari driver and co-driver Lucas Cruz drove their buggy to 7th place yesterday, 15 minutes behind stage winner and teammate Sainz. However, yesterday's 4th place in stage one has now been overturned with Al-Attiyah now ranked 152nd and last in the first stage some 3 hours behind the lead and with a one hour penalty added. Even this unexplained reclassification does not explain his unbelievable 132nd place overall after stage 2. Al-Attiyah, despite being just fifteen minutes behind his stage winning teammate, is now listed as over 9 hours behind the lead overall in the official classification. No information has yet been published by the organisers for this amendment to his ranking, increasing the sense of disarray the ASO seem to suffering at the moment. Further information to explain his  situation is awaited.

Also running on Toyo Tires Open Country M/TR is Australian Bruce Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki in their Isuzu D-Max. After being medically evacuated from the 2011 Dakar with a fractured a vertebra, Garland later suffered a heart attack and five bypass operations in the following months. Hoping to beat his 11th place in the 2009 Dakar, his 62nd place on the first and 59th place finish on the second stage have left him in 54th position overall, 1 hour 38 minutes and 47 second behind the lead. A combination of car and psycological issue affected Garland but, as he has stated, it is the result after day 14 which counts.

The cars line up at 10AM in Peru (GMT - 5 hours) for stage 3. Another 243 km of sand, dry earth and dunes awaits them including a precipitous downhill section at around 115km after heavy dunes where the cars drop nearly 600meters in one kilometer. The rally has alraedy seen momentous events and with more speed to come from both Gordon and Vigouroux, more success for TOYO TIRES cannot be excluded.

Further reportimng will take place after todays race. Images will also be added.