Albert Llovera-Àlex Haro (Buggy MD Rallye) recharged their batteries in Iquique. They used their day off to rest, eat not in a rush and talk to the team members. Once the day was over, the pair that competes with buggy number 367 was once again ready for action.
The 9th stage, from Iquique to Calama, was 538 km long and the teams were timed for 450 km. The day started with a link section of 65 km, which took the competitors to an altitude of 1000 metres where the special stage started. It was, in fact, in this first section when the teams got to say goodbye to the desert of Atacama, with 45 km of dunes. From then on, dirt tracks with stones took them to the finish line in Calama, at an altitude of more than 3500 metres.
Llovera-Haro finished the special stage 33rd in the ranking (they started 64th) with a time of 6h45’27”. They once again kept a very consistent pace that allowed them to get their best result in a stage, for now.
In Calama, it was a double victory for Mini. The stage victory was for Roma-Périn with a time of 4h41”56”; the first win for Nani in the Dakar 2015. And in the fight for the overall victory of this year’s Dakar, Al-Attiyah managed to increase in 15 minutes his advantage in front of Toyota driver, Giniel de Villiers.
One of the main issues with today’s stage was undoubtedly the navigation; here is what Àlex had to say about it: We made a couple of small mistakes with the navigation, which meant that we had to go back in order not to skip any WP and not to get penalised. Albert’s physical condition also had an influence in the outcome of the special stage: From the very beginning, km 3, I had very strong shooting pains on the left side of my chest. On top of that the tracks were very uneven and we bounced around inside the buggy for the whole special. This time, we had to take it easy with our pace so we could take care of our body. All in all, in this stage, they manage to reach the finish line without having to stop: Indeed, in all the other stages we did very well until the end when there was a problem or other that made us fall behind in the ranking and loose some precious minutes in the general classification.
If today the teams, that are still alive in the Dakar 2015, said goodbye to the desert of Atacama, tomorrow they will bid farewell to Chile with a road section of almost 500 km, before they reach the start of the 10th special stage in the Argentinian city of Salta. They will be timed for 358 km driven on dirt tracks with a lot of stones laying about. It is worth pointing out that the beginning of the special will take place at an altitude close to 4500 metres.
 Press service.
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