Albert Llovera - Àlex Haro and their MD Rallye Team buggy have managed to finish the Dakar 2015 in 41st place, with a time of 63h59’34, and 8th in the ranking of gasoline 2WD cars.
For Llovera, third time was the charm (he tried first in Africa and then two times in South America) and he has become the first Andorran driver to manage such an accomplishment in the cars category. As far as Àlex Haro is concerned, his success rate is 100% since in his first experience in the Dakar he has completed the race.
The last stage, the 13th, from Rosario to Buenos Aires, had a special stage 174 km long. But the rain, which has not stop in the Argentinian region, left the tracks in a very poor state and eventually the organisers (A.S.O) had no choice but to neutralise most of the stage. To be more precise, the timed section finished on CP1, km 34 of the special.
Llovera-Haro finished this last special stage of the Dakar 2015, 57th in the ranking with a time of 47’47”.
The winner of this last stage in the cars category was the unstoppable Robby Gordon (Gordini), who made the 34 km in 13’16”.
Today the Minis had to control the situation, so they stayed close to Nasser Al-Attiyah to avoid any possible last minute issue. Al-Attiyah was the one in control, as he has been in the last stages, and only conceded 5” to his main rival, Giniel de Villiers. He was finally crowned for the second time winner of the Dakar.
As you would expect, Llovera-Haro were very proud to be able to step again on the podium of the Dakar 2015 in Buenos Aires: We did it, we have fullfilled the goal we set ourselves when we started our journey to Buenos Aires and we are over the moon. Some moments have been very tough, especially towards the end of the race when we could see the finish line, but it looked like the engine was not going to get there. All is well that ends well and as I’ve said we are extremely happy to have overcome this incredible challenge. Both driver and navigator, who took buggy 367 through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia over the last 15 days, were very clear when they were asked if they thought at any given point that they were not going to make it: No. The second stage was terrible and, as I’ve already mentioned, at the end we had all kinds of problems but we never lost our cool and we found the best solution to keep going.
Undoubtedly, Llovera-Haro were up to proving everybody wrong and they did it: This was our aim. Before we started the Dakar, we were told that it was impossible for us to finish it seeing how the organisers had set the route this year and... we’ve been through Buenos Aires for the second time, so we’ve made it back to the podium of the Plaza de Mayo, this time the finishing podium.
For Albert, there’s no doubt that he has accomplished the greatest achievement of his sports career. Albert very moved thanks: Àlex Haro, my essential support on the tracks, the MD Rallye Team that has taken care of the car in the assistance bivouacs, the sponsors, fundamental to even start this adventure and all the supporters, who have encouraged me, both personally and through social media, in every step of the Dakar. To everyone: thank you very much.
 Press service.
|
