Join in and discuss all the action from Stage 9 of the 2012 Dakar Rally. Robby Gordon finished 2nd in stage 8 & Nasser Al Attiyah finished 5th. Cars begin stage 9 at 7:54am/et (9:54am local). Raceday chat will be available throughout the entire 2012 Dakar Rally. Raceday chat now works on the Ipad & Iphone.
STAGE 9: Antofagasto > Iquique
Connection 9km | Special Stage 556km | Total 565km
COURSE OVERVIEW
A two-part stage will keep the competitors busy who continue the climb to the north of the continent, between oceans and mountains. Two sections separated by a neutralization are on the agenda with varied features and landscapes. At the beginning of the day, the competitors will pass through canyons, drive on clean tracks and sink in the fesh fesh?! The second special stage will call upon the drivers' and co-drivers' navigational talents, who will have to make a decision based on the very limited landmarks, while remaining focused on the WPM. To reward them for this intensive endeavour, they will drive down the steep descent to Iquique, already featured on the 2010 Dakar route, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
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If I was the driver of a competetive car that kept having the same problem ever 25km, I would probably be at the end of my rope as well. Not sure it would be considered a poor sport, it would be like Pocono when Robby pulled the car in the garage and called it a day because he was so fed up.
I just look at it as Robby gave you the chance and equipment and it is a team sport so why not do everything possible to support him to the end? But if he is broke he is broke. Sure was fun while it lasted
On twitter it was stated that Nasser broke 3 serpentine belts, and only carried two as spares. So, it'd be mechanical.
Dang, something must have been knocked off-line during the stage. I lost a serpentine belt last year during the USA 500 due to a miss-alligned bypass pulley, it's not very much fun.
There's a big rig crash that's blocking the road and they'll have to restart the race like the Baja 1000..... NOT
I'm voting for old-school Le Mans start. All cars lined up, run across the road, jump in, start the cars and go!
Is the final part of the Special a repeat from an earlier stage? Would the drivers/navigators already know it well? Looks like it shouldn't take more than an hour to complete once they're off.
It says in the preview that the navigation on the second part is very challenging. Seems like a good spot to pick up or lose time even though it's not that many km.
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