The 12th and penultimate stage of the Dakar 2015, Termas de Rio Hondo-Rosario, 1024 km long with a timed section 298 km long, was determined by the problems they had the day before. Llovera-Haro crossed the finish line but with a time that put them at the end of the ranking.
On top of the loss of time, yesterday’s stage had another negative consequence: being one of the last teams to start the special stage, which meant that the tracks had suffered the almost 400 participants still in the competition, trucks included. It is easy to imagine that the conditions of those tracks were not ideal to drive fast whilst taking care of an engine already very tired.
In this situation, Llovera-Haro could not lose their concentration for even a moment, since any little mistake could have dreadful consequences. The goal was to reach the bivouac in Rosario and they did it, despite having problems with the brakes from the very beginning of the special stage and not being able to start the car after crossing a river. They were towed to the finish line by the quick roadside assistance. At the end, they were in 66th position with a time of 4h46”32”.
The event continues to be completely dominated by the cars of the German make, Mini. In Rosario, it was, once again, two of its drivers who were at the top of the special: Argentinian driver Orlando Terranova, who adds another partial victory to his track record with a time of 3h04”06 and Russian driver Vladimir Vasilyev only 30 seconds slower.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, fourth in today’s stage, is the virtual winner of the Dakar 2015. Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) has thrown in the towel definitively and settles for the second step of the podium.
On this day, the problems with the controls Albert uses to drive have also been too much: It was in km 3 when the controls I use to brake have stopped working; apparently it was the power pump that assists the control used to brake wasn’t working. Basically, in such a fast stage, not being able to brake has been a huge problem. If that was not enough, the problems they had yesterday when they crossed rivers occured again today: It was 40 km from the end when the car stopped for the first time. We manage to solve the issue with the same drying technique we used yesterday, but 15 km from the end it stopped again and... we had to be towed by the assistance.
Less than 24 hours before the end of the Dakar, one of the toughest international motor events, Albert Llovera-Àlex Haro driving their MD Rallye Team buggy will start the 13th and last stage, from Rosario to Buenos Aires, confident in their chances to reach the same podium they left 14 days ago when they were facing a 9000 km challenge that they are about to overcome.
This 13th stage is 393 km long and has a 174 km timed section. It will be mainly dirt tracks, used frequently in the Argentinian rallys, that should not be a great obstacle at the end of the Dakar.
 Press service.
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