Some camel grass, 20 km before the finish line, prevented what would have been the best result for Llovera-Haro, driving the MD Rallye Team Buggy, in the Dakar 2015. They were amongst the Top 25 (24th at the WP 8), but a broken suspension hindered them more than 2 hours, so they finished in 6h33”34, after some 15 hours inside the Buggy. It is worth mentioning that the stage was 909 km long, of which 315 km were timed. The road section of almost 600 km was raced on Argentinian soil, whilst the rest took place in Chile after crossing the border at the San Francisco Pass, at an altitude of 4800 m.
Nasser Al-Attiyah remains as the strongest competitor of the event; it was the second victory for the Qatar driver, who finished the stage in 3h09’18”. In this fourth stage, the drivers in more trouble were Carlos Sainz, who lost the turbo of his Peugeot, and the winner of yesterday’s stage, Orlando Terranova. Their options to be amongst the best at the end of the event have all but disappeared.
As it has been said, the Chilean special stage had two very different parts for Llovera-Haro. They had an excellent pace in the first and when it looked like their progression was confirmed, it happened: We touched the well known camel grass and one of the wishbones of our suspension broke. We had to perform some emergency repairs to be ale to keep going. We were only 20 km away from the camp. It was such a pity because the pace had been excellent up until then. After last year’s experience, Llovera heads straight to the hospital to be checked up every time he reaches the rest area: Undoubtedly, the beginning of the competition has been very tough, both because of the route established by the organization and because of the heat, over 40ºC during long hours. Last year I got close to my limit and this year I want to avoid all possible issues.
For tomorrow (8th January), another traditional stage this time 100% on Chilean soil. Copiapo-Antofogasta has a total route of 697 km, of which 458 km will be timed through the desert of Atacama. It is mainly the thin sands, fesh-fesh, that will be once again the main obstacle to overcome, but we can not forget the extreme heat.
 Press service.
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