Rene Kuipers moves up to 9th position in Dakar Rally
After the rest day the Dakar Rally has started moving again leaving the seaside town of Valparaiso and heading north along the coast to Le Serena. René set an excellent result today by finishing the special stage of 294km in 12th position and with this result he moved up one place in the overall standings and currently holds 9th place and is best classified BMW X-Raid driver at the moment.
During today's specials stage René Kuipers had another careful and safe drive in the bMW X3CC. "I have found a pace with which I feel comfortable and with which I can steer away from trouble and arrive in Buenos Aires under normal Dakar circumstances" told René Kuipers after returning to the bivouac. "It was another tough day as the fatigue starts to become an issue."
Looking ahead to the day of tomorrow René comments: "Tomorrow will be decision day for many teams. It is supposed to be a long and difficult stage with a lot of dunes at the end of the stage. The desert here is absolutely different from Africa, this is so much more difficult". Maintaining the rhythm during the days ahead Kuipers hopes to keep his top ten position to the finish of his first Dakar in the car. "But we are just halfway".
Tomorrow the Dakar Rally will move further north in Chili and head for the desert. The leg of in total 537km will see a liaison of 88km leaving the Pacific Coast and after a 449km special stage they will arrive in the bivouac in Copiapo. Copiapo lies in the Atacama Desert where it hasn't rained for many years. Fortunately for the crews the weather is rather cool with and expected temperature of just 21 degrees.
Result 8th leg:
01. Sainz/Perin - Volkswagen 3:47:19"
02. Depping /Gottschalk - Volkswagen +4:02"
02. Miller/Pitchford - Volkswagen +4:12 "
12. Kuipers/Palmeiro - BMW +33:52"
Standings after the 8th day:
01. Sainz/Perin - Volkswagen 27:29:59"
02. De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz - Volkswagen 10:57"
03. Miller/Pitchford - Volkswagen +18:05"
09. Kuipers/Palmeiro - BMW +5:33:43"
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Comments
No comments yet.