Stage Four Race Analysis

January 8, 2007

by Ryan Arciero

The first stage in Africa for the 2007 Dakar is now in the books and once again Mark ran a smart race. Like I had anticipated from my last post, he was able to finish in the top five for the stage as well as get himself back into the top five overall.

Ginel won today’s stage as predicted and once again VW has maintained the top spot everyday of the rally thus far. I am sure Kris Nissen is excited about this, but I am sure he would trade in all the stage wins for the overall win of the rally. This race has just begun but from here on out it is only going to get harder and harder as the stages progress.

Mark is still sitting in a great position in the fifth spot. He is still very much in range of the leaders at only a little over nine minutes back which in the scheme of things is nothing.

Tomorrow’s stage, Stage 4 takes them from Er Rachidia to Ouarzazate and the longest special of the rally thus far at 405km. Ouarzazate is a place you might recognize if you get a chance to watch this stage on TV. This is where they filmed the movie Gladiator. This stage is probably going to be the most familiar for some of the top teams because this is the region where most of their testing is done. In this stage the competitors will also enter their first stretch of dunes.

With a stage length at over 400km there is a lot of room for error. In this type of stage a lot can happen as far as punctures or mechanical issue. You still have to be very mindful of your equipment but still maintain a quick pace. I think there is more to loose in a long stage like this if you run a flat out pace but also a prime time to make up some time on the leaders if you are cautious and can clean the stage with no problems and a consistently fast pace.

This will be yet another stage that Mark can make a possible jump up in the overall if all goes well. It will be a little difficult to make up 3 minutes on Peterhansel to take over the fourth position but not impossible. There might even be a chance to eat into Sousa time who is in the third position. I also expect Peterhansel to eat into Sousa time as well for tomorrows stage. Everything in my opinion is going great for Mark. He still stands in a great overall position and can easily take advantage of mistakes that can be made by the guys in front of him. All it takes is one puncture from these guys and he will easily eat into their time. I expect another stage win for Ginel if he is on his game and quite possibly a top three for Mark if not giving Ginel a run for his money. I also think Carlos will be right there at the top as well.

For the first time on the recommendation of one of the Arciero-Miller Racing Team members Anthony Moreno, I am going to do a word for the day. I will use words that you might hear as you are following the rally but don’t know what they mean.

Back to top