2014 Dakar Rally

Tomorrow brings us the start of the 2014 Dakar Rally, and with it, the first major racing event of the new year.

The race will be run through three countries: Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, with the quads and bikes deviating from the main route midway through the race.



Here's the entry list. It's massive: http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2014/us/rider/starters-bikes.html#ancre

Robby Gordon will be competing this year for Toyo Tires with teammate BJ Baldwin. Gordon will be driving a new, light-weight truck of his own construction, the HST Gordini.

NBCSN will be broadcasting highlights of the race starting Monday; in-depth information of each stage can be found on the official Dakar website.

It's actually a normal sized entry list for Dakar.

It's also worth noting that this year, Robby Gordon is driving the only Hummer in the field, where in past years, the Hummer is been a highly run vehicle in the car class.

Wow. Even being so close to here (I live in Brazil, which makes border with Argentina) only two brazilians will race: Jean de Azevedo and Dário Júlio de Souza  ( I expected at least 5) 

bsoyuz wrote:Wow. Even being so close to here (I live in Brazil, which makes border with Argentina) only two brazilians will race: Jean de Azevedo and Dário Júlio de Souza  ( I expected at least 5) 

There are 4 entrants, 6 pilots, from Brazil   

Stage 1 got underway today. The 1st stage has in past years been treated as a parade lap for the race, but this year there will be some racing included. Either way, it still counts for overall time, which means having a problem in Stage 1 could end your race before it begins. Unfortunately, that appears to be the case for Robby Gordon. Gordon's current position is 133rd out of 134 in the car class that have currently finished. He is just over two hours off the pace already. No word on what happened to Gordon's #305 Hummer yet.

As for a summary of the day, 431 vehicles took off today trying to win one of the most prestigious rally races in the world, the Dakar Rally. The 174 bikes and 40 quads were released first at 10:20 local time (8:20 ET). After that, the 147 cars left at 12:52 local time, followed by the 70 trucks at 3:45 PM.

As for the layout of the stage, the stage is only 180 km. However, there is 405 km connection route to get to the start. At the end of the stage, there is another 224 km connection route to get to the start of Stage 2. There is also a checkpoint during this stage.

Finally, the results of the stage. As I write this, almost everyone has hit the checkpoint with the exception of two cars. As for the overall finish, 172 bikes, along with all 40 quads, 134 cars. and 24 trucks have finished and are ready for Stage 2.

Stage 1 Winners (Unofficial)
Bike: #3 Joan Barreda Bort
Quad: #251 Ignacio Casale
Car: #306 Carlos Sousa
Truck: #503 Ayrat Mardeev

flyingturns89 wrote:Gordon's current position is 133rd out of 134 in the car class that have currently finished. He is just over two hours off the pace already. No word on what happened to Gordon's #305 Hummer yet.

From TFLcar.com:

"Things did not turn out the way Robby Gordon hoped to start the 2014 Dakar. He was late to the start of the special and proceeded to have several mishaps. Most noteworthy was when Robby lost the rear engine cover of his Hummer HST racer. One of the event organizers had to retrieve the piece of bodywork in a service vehicle. In the end, Robby crossed the finish line 2 hr 08 min 06 sec behind the leader and in provisional 133th place. The lost time will be extremely difficult to make up, but we have seen Robby bounce back from similar problems and bring in stage victories. We hope the Hummer HST team (Robby Gordon / Kellon Walch and crew) can quickly recover."

Milan655 wrote:

bsoyuz wrote:Wow. Even being so close to here (I live in Brazil, which makes border with Argentina) only two brazilians will race: Jean de Azevedo and Dário Júlio de Souza  ( I expected at least 5) 

There are 4 entrants, 6 pilots, from Brazil   

Whoa, I passed the entry list and only saw two entrants, so this confused me a little

bsoyuz wrote:

Milan655 wrote:

bsoyuz wrote:Wow. Even being so close to here (I live in Brazil, which makes border with Argentina) only two brazilians will race: Jean de Azevedo and Dário Júlio de Souza  ( I expected at least 5) 

There are 4 entrants, 6 pilots, from Brazil   

Whoa, I passed the entry list and only saw two entrants, so this confused me a little

Did you check the entries for the quads, cars and bikes?  

Milan655 wrote:

bsoyuz wrote:

Milan655 wrote:

bsoyuz wrote:Wow. Even being so close to here (I live in Brazil, which makes border with Argentina) only two brazilians will race: Jean de Azevedo and Dário Júlio de Souza  ( I expected at least 5) 

There are 4 entrants, 6 pilots, from Brazil   

Whoa, I passed the entry list and only saw two entrants, so this confused me a little

Did you check the entries for the quads, cars and bikes?  

I think not   

Stage 1 Eurosport highlights can be found here. It's in russian though

Anybody want Stage 2 Eurosport highlights?

kriswascher97 wrote:Anybody want Stage 2 Eurosport highlights?

Would be great, thanks   

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=c4-feed-u&v=06aFTLKrsOs

Stage 2

Here we have EuroSport highlights dubbed (FoxSports) or subbed (ESPN) but they're only shown by midnight.

Stage 2 Summary and Results

The second day of Dakar, and already a few big names found themselves deep in the field. However, it is very early in the race, and no one is out of it yet. Today's stage started with a 304 km drive to the starting line, followed by the first stage where the classes separate and run on different parts of the terrain. Bikes and quads drove for 359 km, while the trucks ran 400 km, and cars had to 433 km just to get to the end, and the 62 km cool down run to get to their next connection. The bikes and quads would have to go through a checkpoint, which would slow them down a bit.

No teams had any problems big enough to knock them out of the race before they could complete Stage 1, so all 431 vehicles could have taken the start at Stage 2. However, 17 bikes and six cars have officially pulled out of the race before or during Stage 2, dropping the field to 408 for now.

As for the driver everyone here has been watching, Robby Gordon, unfortunately Gordon had another tough day, and lost another hour to the leaders, finishing 28th today.

Stage 2 Winners (Unofficial)
Bike: #18 Sam Sunderland
Quad: #250 Marcos Patronelli
Car: #300 Stephane Peterhansel
Truck: #501 Gerard De Rooy

Overall Leaders
Bike: #3 Joan Barreda Bort
Quad: #250 Marcos Patronelli
Car: #300 Stephane Peterhansel
Truck: #501 Gerard De Rooy

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=g-subs-u&v=7NngNODO8Gs

Stage 3 Eurosport Highlights

Nani Roma and his Mini come out on top on Stage 3, with Joan Barreda Bort, Rafal Sonik, and Andrey Karginov leading the way in bikes, quads, and trucks respectively. This stage saw the competitors plunge into the first 250 kilometers (155 miles) of the competitive section in which drivers may receive no assistance from their crews.

Robby Gordon had a relatively trouble-free section, coming to the line sixth for the stage. He is now 41st overall, so his chances of winning the race are still markedly slim. It's a long race, though, and anything can happen.

Stage 3 also saw several major incidents. The first occurred when Argentinian quad rider Marcos Patronelli was struck by an apparent mechanical failure. Patronelli lost control, but was able to bail off his Yamaha before watching it fly off of a 400 meter cliff and into a ravine. Patronelli was recovered after an unspecified amount of time, reportedly suffering from dehydration.

The second incident involved Portuguese motorcyclist Ruben Faria, who crashed heavily somewhere along the route. There are a lot of conflicting reports on this crash, but most reports say that a bizarre situation presented itself when Faria and several riders, including Stage 2 motorcycle winner Sam Sunderland, took a wrong turn down a steep embankment and found themselves trapped. Not much is known about the crash, but Faria was reportedly airlifted to a local hospital, however some sources are saying he is okay. The other riders reportedly waited with Faria until the helicopter arrived.

Stage 3 Standings:

Bike: Joan Barreda Bort
Quad: Rafal Sonik
Car: Nami Roma
Truck: Andrey Karginov

Overall Standings

Bike: Joan Barreda Bort
Quad: Rafal Sonik
Car: Nami Roma
Truck: Gerard de Rooy

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FiNLoRDatds&feature=g-subs-u

Stage 4 Eurosport Highlights

Stage 4 is almost over, and it might be the stage that gets remembered as the stage that took out half the field. A total of 360 vehicles were supposed to start, and of those 360, only 198 have finished so far. All divisions have been racing since 7:30 AM local time, and it is now 10:30 PM. I'm not quite sure where everything has gone wrong exactly, but the point is, it is gone very wrong.

We'll start with the route. For the cars and trucks, it's one of the longest, at 657 km, in addition to the 59 km to get to the start, and the 151 km to get to the next rest point. The bikes and quads, meanwhile, go 43 km to get to the start, followed by a 352 km stage, ending with a 167 km run to the next rest point. The bikes and quads also have three checkpoints they must visit, while the cars and trucks have only one.

As for the race itself, it was pretty messy today. Many big contenders across all four divisions have fallen out of the race, and almost half the field has yet to finish. The bike would currently be about half of what it was when the day started. Only 74 of the 146 bikes scheduled to start Stage 4 have finished. This, however, in no way compares to the carnage in quads. After the early leader in the division crashed out yesterday, it brought us to a point of no clear winner. And it appears that has been cut down extremely today. Of the 37 drivers who were scheduled to start today, only six have currently finished.

On to the cars, where just like the other divisions, many drivers have to finish. The car division had 117 drivers scheduled to start, and two thirds of that field, or 78 drivers, have finished. One of those finishers is Robby Gordon, who will end up 14th today, 42 minutes behind. Gordon currently sits 31st overall. The truck division two thirds of its starters finishing. Sixty were scheduled to start, but only 41 have finished.

Stage 4 Winners (Official because anyone else is too far out.)
Bike: #23 Juan Pedrero Garcia
Quad: #251 Ignacio Casale
Car: #303 Carlos Sainz
Truck: #501 Gerard De Rooy

Overall
Bike: #3 Joan Barreda Bort
Quad: #251 Ignacio Casale
Car: #303 Carlos Sainz
Truck: #501 Gerard De Rooy

Stage 5 highlights

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112087

Hate to post this, but unfortunately The Dakar Rally has already heard about a fatality, as Belgian 50 year-old rider Eric Palante has been found dead on the Fifth stage of the Rally earlier this morning.

Dakar has been getting a lot more dangerous. We've already had half the field knocked out of the race, and we haven't even hit the rest day yet. Palante is about the third death in five years too. Very sad indeed.

Two reporters were also killed yesterday when their car fell into a ravine.

It's a sad day indeed, but with a race this long and grueling I'm not too surprised. I know they haven't released anything about the circumstances of his death, but Palante was fifty years old and racing a motorbike almost 1000 miles through a desert. No matter how fit you are, that takes a tole on you; I bet it was a heart attack or a heatstroke that eventually got him.

From what I've heard he was a very experienced and driven racer, an eleven-time Dakar entrant. He will surely be missed in the motorsports world.

RIP Eric Palante

Also to the two spectators who died while following the race. It's bad when a racer dies, but the deaths of two people who just wanted to enjoy one of the most exciting races in the world is really hard to swallow.

Stage 6 Eurosport Highlights

Palante was from close to where I'm from, so this hits pretty close...

Rest In Peace, Eric.

I know it's a pretty big bump, but the national news over here confirmed Palante died of a heat stroke. Which begs the question: why did the organizers take 22 hours to get to him?

tommykl wrote:I know it's a pretty big bump, but the national news over here confirmed Palante died of a heat stroke. Which begs the question: why did the organizers take 22 hours to get to him?

They had no idea where he was. There are different checkpoints during each stage, as well as some race officials scattered around the length of each stage. Still, the only way of having an idea of where he was at was looking at the checkpoints, figure out which checkpoint was his last, and combing the area starting from there. It's not like a normal race where there's a fix circuit that the drivers go around, this is a desert.

Robby Gordon's Dakar Rally run is officially over. He had problems on Stage 11 and was unable to finish the stage, but was eligible for Stage 12, however the car was not capable of going further. Gordon was running 52nd out of 66 remaining in the car division.