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PISCO Peru – Each Dakar stage is made up of several waypoints that the cars must find along the route. Failure to pass through one of these waypoints can result in a time penalty.
Difficulty came for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Lucas Cruz when they had trouble finding a waypoint in the desert dunes. This incident cost them some valuable time.
The Buggy of Carlos Sainz and Timo Gottschalk also had trouble finding a waypoint on Stage Two. After spending some precious minutes circling the correct area in the desert for a confirmation signal that never came, they eventually moved on.
However, following an inquiry by the race organisers after Stage Two it was decided to subtract the 21m26s lost by Carlos while he searched for the waypoint. The confusion was caused by the race satellites of the Dakar Rally and not a fault with Carlos’ on-car GPS or the navigation of Timo.
The recalculation hands Carlos and Timo back-to-back stage wins as they maintain their lead of the 2013 Dakar Rally. Despite a difficult day for Nasser and Lucas, they remain within touch of their team-mates.
Both Buggies will be hoping to keep up their impressive pace on tomorrow’s 343km Stage Three from Pisco to Nazca.
Cyril Despres races during the 2nd stage of Dakar Rally in Pisco, Peru on January 6th, 2013 // Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20130106-00088 //
Driver Quotes
Carlos Sainz: “It was really strange out on the stage because of the problems we had with navigation. There was a waypoint on the stage that we passed three or four times before it would let us continue on the stage. We were going up and down and round and round because we knew we were in the right place.”
“Eventually we decided to leave because we just couldn’t find this waypoint. This was a risky move because if you do not pass all the waypoints on the stage it can cost you a time penalty. Then after we travelled 3km away we got the waypoint confirmation. The whole thing was very strange and tonight we will have to investigate the problem and find the solution.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah: “We made a strong start to the stage today and everything was going well for us until we reached a waypoint that created a problem for us. We believed we were in the right place so we waited and waited before finally going to search in other places for the waypoint.”
“Then we came back to our original position and only then did our GPS confirm that we had reached the waypoint. I’m sure this cost us a lot of time. But I’m happy to have both cars safely back to the bivouac.”