Peterhansel back in force: “A good step forward”

Experience spoke during the third day of the 2019 Dakar between San Juan de Marcona and Arequipa (Peru) on Wednesday. In difficulty during the two previous stages, Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini) let go of his Mini JCW buggy to take his 75th special victory on the rally-raid.

The Frenchman is very proud of his performance. “It was a good piece, with serious dune crossings and complicated navigation: difficult way-points to find in valleys. Typically like Peru and what we will find in the days to come”, he announces.

Stéphane Peterhansel is back in the general classification, one day after losing 20 minutes in a crash. “Monsieur Dakar” is only 7'03'' behind leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota). " Yesterday (Tuesday), I was 13th, now I'm third. This is a good step forward. 

Yesterday we were a little distracted, I encountered some electrical problems, we had the inflation-deflation system which no longer worked. In these conditions, you must avoid playing with the terrain and maintain speed by going straight. By doing this, I made a mistake, it's not a usual mistake, but it's forgotten », he analyzes. His new co-driver David Castera is just as satisfied:

Stage victory today, that’s nice! It was a good day overall despite one or two hesitations in navigation, we are gaining time from our adversaries. The Dakar has only just begun!
xraidteam # Dakar2019 pic.twitter.com/Gw25efPc3v

— David Castera (@DavidCastera1) 9th January 2019

The X-Raid pilot is approaching the fourth stage, synonymous with a marathon stage, this Thursday January 10 with pragmatism. “On the marathon stage you should definitely not have any problems. Besides I paid for it last year, that’s what made us lose the Dakar by breaking the Peugeot from the first day of the marathon stage. As a result, you will have to start a little ''below'', managing the mechanics. »