Jan 13th, 2012 Dakar Rally Stage 12 Race Info & Discussion

Join in and discuss all the action from Stage 12 of the 2012 Dakar Rally. Robby Gordon finished 25th in stage 11 & is now down over 2 hours in the overall standings. Cars begin stage 12 at 11:35am/et Raceday chat will be available throughout the entire 2012 Dakar Rally. Raceday chat now works on the Ipad & Iphone.

STAGE 12 TRACKING

STAGE 12: Arequipa > Nasca

Connection 412km | Special Stage 245km | Total 657km

COURSE OVERVIEW

Only a flight over the region can allow the Nazca Lines, mysterious motifs created in the ground more than 2,000 years ago, to be admired. The route of the special stage creates another line on the map of Peru which looks like a sand dragon. Although the areas of dunes are evenly spread out, the competitors will definitely remember one of them, which made a deep impression on the reconnaissance team. The dunes follow one after another continuously for almost twenty kilometres, transporting the drivers to a new dimension. As the sand will remain firm in this string of dunes, it will help the drivers to cross them without too much difficulty. But the most skilled dune-crossers will nevertheless be able to create a surprise, in particular three days before the final finish. Those who remember how to perform the "Mauritanian swerve" can save some precious minutes.

STAGE BY STAGE RESULTS

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Permalink Reply by Kevin on January 13, 2012 at 7:05pm

Rough translation...

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Permalink Reply by Rick Felden on January 13, 2012 at 5:42pm

I'm not happy about some of the nonsense and not a big fan of the ASO, but this is driven by a competitor protest. ASO had no choice but to follow up but their decision was suspect.
The vacuum at that point in the intake system would help evacuate the air from the tires faster but the amount of air we're talking about should have virtually no effect on the engine performance.
ASO do deserve props for putting on the rally, that is a massive undertaking that they seem to do well. There are a few things SCORE could learn from that group, for example SENTINEL so the TT's can see/warn the bikes in the dust!

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Permalink Reply by Drone637 on January 13, 2012 at 6:10pm

On the competitor protest note, it is a shame that a counter accusation is not allowed. In many motorsports if you are called out by a competitor you have the opportunity to request that the competitors vehicle be checked for legality as well. This cuts down on a lot of complaints, as many people feel that the person who beat them must have been cheating since they were cheating themselves. It also adds transparency to the procedures on why things are done.

One thing the ASO has not done is specify WHY they decided to tear apart the RG Hummer. This has lead to various rumors and leads to the idea that they are doing it simply to protect their interests by showing favoritism to a leading French driver.

If the ASO just stepped up and said 'We looked into this issue after an official complain was filed by driver X and the race steward found Y issue and believes the system is bypassing rule Z and is terms for disqualification' then everything would be nice and official, RG would be able to simply file a protest, and racing would continue. Instead they walk over and go into the vehicle, then ask him to leave the rally telling him he is disqualified. No press release explaining their actions, no nothing. Complain about Nascar all you want but at least they have someone talking to the press within hours to say, at the very least, more information regarding the infractions will be forthcoming.

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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on January 13, 2012 at 6:18pm

So why not act on the 303's protest of ignoring the sentinel?

The "ASO had no choice but to follow up but their decision was suspect." BS its the same system the saw for 5 years. only now they decide its illegal?

The 302 himself stated today he didn't race the RAID as hard as he did on Stage 12. So he wants to play it safe to avoid mistakes and to equalize the field, he complains when another team does not play it safe and kicks his ass. And the ASO walks lock step with the preordained Monster X -Raid team who after all deserves to win because look at them.

Dont forget this "Competitor" was in first place overall. WTF

The Hummer has been in development for 6 years this car has advanced so far. The engine is tuned for the restrictor plate so much better. That is why they are so fast not from a tiny amout of air entering the intake. Robby never brings the same truck/car back to a track. He always is learning and improving. They make statement like the Hummer was never this fast before. Do you think he throws a tarp over it at RGM and brings the same truck back every year? He learned the game won with it and they changed the rules half way through the RAID

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Permalink Reply by Drone637 on January 13, 2012 at 6:30pm

That is what I was complaining about, the lack of transparency in their system. Sadly they suffer from the same issue FIA has where they believe they are powerful enough that if they ignore the question, it will eventually go away. They will ignore rivergate (Love that term), ignore Peter pretending the sentinel system didn't exist and just wait for it to blow over. And in the long term they are probably correct. In 3 weeks they can issue a retraction to RG and start to prepare for next year.

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Permalink Reply by Ray Therat on January 13, 2012 at 6:57pm

I agree with you about the lack of transparency and others' statements about "equal opportunity protests" but I'm afraid that in 3 weeks, the FIA will uphold the tech inspectors' findings without comment or opportunity to appeal.

I've dealt with the FIA a little (more with the FIM) and find both groups to be old-boy networks for Europeans (generally French and Italians) and the opinions that those outside their very closed network of favorites (think Ferrari...FIA is an acronym for Ferrari Interests Always) are generally met with a very cold shoulder and a closed door.

I was present at an FIA committee meeting last year...and while they did their best to tell all present how diverse and open they were, they (in my eyes) just painted a picture of a very convoluted system to which few had the opportunity to gain entry, let alone question a decision,

I hope it doesn't turn out this way. I hope they find in Robby's favor, regardless of where he finishes. Now about the best thing that could happen would be for the 2 Minis to....uhhh....meet up in the middle of a river crossing and with a little bit of luck, uhhh....both get swept downstream, never to be seen (nor protest) again. :)

I'll tune in tomorrow to see how it all works out.

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Permalink Reply by mark roye on January 13, 2012 at 9:08pm

What they need to be constantly reminded of is that North America is still the world's largest automotive market by far, and that if the factory teams, which after all participate in order to sell cars, wish to do well in that market, they (factory teams) themselves should demand clear rules and fair enforcement. To do otherwise dilutes any victory and renders the tens of millions they spend to compete worth far less. North America will not be impressed by hollow victories, and such "victories" will therefore become less valuable to the manufacturers. In turn fewer manufactures will participate in the event. VW already moved on. In the end the event---Dakar---will wither from lack of interest, in much the same way that CART, then IRL has.