Stage Seven Race Analysis

January 11, 2007

by Ryan Arciero

Stage 6 was a good day for the Americans. Two American drivers in the top ten on today’s stage to Zouerat. In my opinion the Americans have arrived and are definitely a force to be reckoned with in the Dakar. Robby won today’s stage with Mark following by a little over 12 minutes in the eighth position. Not too bad when you consider he lost his second rear differential of the rally and had to limp it in with front wheel drive.

Mark did exactly what he should of done on this stage and that was to run as fast of a pace as he could. Like I had said a couple of posts ago he has nothing to loose and everything to gain. Unfortunately he is running into a little bit of bad luck, but lets just hope that is going to be all for the remainder of the rally.

In the overall race, VW has a hold on the top three positions which you could throw a blanket over. They increased their lead over the Mitsubishi team by seven minutes today. Mark lost a little more on the overall after today’s stage but not all is gone for him. He is now almost 55 minutes out of first place and just about 44 minutes out of the podium spot. Still very possible to make up especially with what is in store for them as the rally continues.

Tomorrow is going to be the third longest stage of the rally at 542km of special. If all goes as in the past this will be a very difficult stage from all aspects. They will have a lot of dune crossings, camel grass and sand. Navigation is also going to be very difficult. The stage before the rest day is always very hard, so expect another shuffle in the overall after tomorrow’s stage is finished. Tomorrow’s stage in my opinion is going to be a turning point for some of the competitors and their overall grasp of keeping into contact with the leaders. I think this can be a big stage for Mark to make his comeback. He will start ninth tomorrow and will have to drive a fast pace. In my opinion you just let him go and run as fast as he can to the finish. It is a perfect stage for Mark to eat away at the guys in front of him. I think if the car holds together he is going to move up another position or two in the overall rankings heading into the rest day. Most importantly I think Kris Nissen, the VW team leader would like to see another VW start to ease between them and the Mitsubishi team. If luck starts to be on Mark’s side I expect a top five finish out of him tomorrow.

I also anticipate another solid performance by Carlos and Ginel. Both of those guys have been Mr. Consistent thus far on this rally and that is what it is going to take to win this race. They both have had really good luck and their down time has been very minimum. If Robby can keep it together he will turn in another top run as well. Expect him to be in the top five.

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