Jan 7th , 2011 Dakar Rally Stage 6 Race Info & Discussion

Stage 6 race discussion of the 2011 Dakar Rally. Eliseo Salazar begins his stage at 9:06am/et. Live raceday chat will be open all day too. Robby Gordon is not a scored competitor throughout the remainder of the rally.

STAGE 6: Iquique > Arica
Connection 265km | Special Stage 456km | Total 721km

Course Overview

The exploration of the Atacama Desert this year brings the Dakar participants to Arica, the last town before the Peruvian border. For this large slice of desert before the rest day, the menu is full of dunes, whose sizes increase as the day passes by. But throughout the special stage, the riders and drivers will experience an alternation of sensations. After surfing on the dunes, most of them will get to grips with the unavoidable zones of fesh-fesh, or “guadal” as they are known in this part of the world. For the section of slaloming between dust and dry grass, patience is the competitors’ best ally.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by alan4s on January 7, 2011 at 4:42pm

327 had been up to 20th at WP11, then this tweet:

Pisser!

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Permalink Reply by Chet Raschka on January 7, 2011 at 4:46pm

Thanks Alan. I was wondering what was taking so long to get to WP12. He was doing so well.

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Permalink Reply by alisonlaroza on January 7, 2011 at 11:47pm

Hahaha, is this the best time to be tweeting? I feel like time is crucial, lol.

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Permalink Reply by billy williams on January 7, 2011 at 4:42pm

Finally, the buzz around the bivouac is that Robby Gordon’s disqualification from the rally is a disappointment to the locals. So Robby staged a little publicity stunt at the end of the day. It’s reported that round 7:00PM one of the super-trucks was descending the grade at about 40kmh when all of a sudden there was another noise off to one side. It was the bright orange HUMMER flying down the hill at mach speed. Spectators were dashing off to either side to avoid the mayhem. He got to the bottom, turned it around and proceeded to hill-climb the 2-wheel drive beast back up the mountain. He then went down to the finisher’s area where organizers immediately tore the numbers off the doors and DAKAR markings from the HUMMER.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie on January 8, 2011 at 12:55am

it seems like the hummers have the worse luck with alternators.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on January 8, 2011 at 1:14am

thats racing

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Permalink Reply by R. ALDRIDGE on January 8, 2011 at 1:30pm

Salazar show as 52nd overall, 20 hours down (including 3 hour penalty). Tough stage only 71 shown in overall. Realistic goal is probably a top 25, though top 20 would still be possible.