Stage Two Race Analysis

January 7, 2007

by Ryan Arciero

Stage 2 – Check, Check, Stage 2 Completed and once again Mark makes it to the finish line and the VW Touareg is in perfect condition. Mark played the game on today’s stage and I think he played it well. He arrived with his Touareg in great condition for tomorrows jaunt through the first stage in Africa and he is in good range in the overall to Sousa at 6:27 back.

Carlos Sainz wins the stage as we predicted he would which is great for the entire VW team. Like I had said yesterday, today’s stage fit Carlos’ driving style as it looked to be a typical WRC style stage. All Mark had to do today was stay in reach of the leaders and not take any chances. Smooth is fast and taking care of your equipment is critical.

Although Mark didn’t get into the top ten on today’s stage his overall position for the rally is great leading into Morocco. Today’s Special was a short one at that at only 60km in length, but the liaison leading to the boat to cross the Mediterranean is the longest so far on the rally at 425km. I should explain a little bit better for those of you who are confused as to what a “Liaison” is and what a “Special” is. A “Liaison” is a rout the racers take that leads from Parc Ferme which is an impound area that the cars are in from the night before or from the Bivwac which is the pit area that all the race vehicles and service vehicles are in at the end of every day and goes to the start of the Special stage. The “Liaison” is not a timed section in the sense that it doesn’t count against your stage time in the rally or your overall time in the rally. You are however given a time allotment to get from the start of the liaison to the start of the special. The “Special” is the timed part of the rally. This is the part that you see on TV and the part that counts against your stage time and your overall time. After you get to the finish line of the “Special” you have to do another “Liaison” which gets you to the next bivwac where your service vehicles are waiting for your arrival. This is also not a timed section but like the first Liaison you do each day you are given a time allotment to get to the bivwac. I hope that doesn’t confuse any of you more, and it somewhat explains how it works.

Ok back to business. Now the Dakar starts to pick up some steam and being on your game will be very critical, especially for the navigators. Africa and the Sahara tend to eat the competitors up and spit them out from here to the finish line in Dakar.

Expect navigation to be a lot more difficult than in Portugal or in Spain. Now is the time for not only the drivers to shine and show how well they are adapted to driving in the deserts with a calm outlook and a desire to win the rally, but for importantly the navigators to be on their game. Mistakes in navigation now could start to mean the difference from winning the rally to just finishing.

Stage 3 will take them from Nador to Er Rachidia. It will be the longest Special stage of the rally thus far with a distance of 252km. I don’t think at the start of the first African stage that I would want to be the first on the road. I think Mark is in a great position to continue the game and let some of the guys in front of him make the mistakes especially in navigation. The terrain will change for these guys as well. Now they have their first desert stage, and the Moroccan deserts look similar to the deserts in California and Nevada but not as rough as it can be here. Look for hard pack roads and typical desert like surroundings.

I think this will be a good stage if all goes well for Mark to ratchet up a bit in the overall standings and maybe creep back up to the top five which will put him in a perfect place for Stage 4. I expect Mark to have a top five finish on tomorrow’s stage which he is completely capable of if not a win. It might be a stage that Ginel, Mark’s teammate decides to take the top spot. Only time will tell.

Until tomorrow, hope everyone is enjoying the audio updates and analysis.

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