Peterhansel wins despite the dust

« We ate dust for 200 km », explained Stéphane Peterhansel upon his arrival at the Iquique bivouac. " THE The commissioners had reclassified us in 14th position in the starting order. We overtook ten cars in total. Some drivers were very tough to overtake, we sometimes followed them for thirty kilometers, it was really hell in the fesh-fesh. The terrain was a little less stony than the day before, but there were still quite a few bad wadis and big, very dangerous breaks. » At the finish, Stéphane won in front Carlos Sainz for 47??, while overall, he occupied eighth place this evening.

On the VW side, if Sainz was spared from trouble, Al Attiyah lost a little time by “gardening” at the start of the special, while Miller conceded a few minutes by remaining stuck in a dune. More seriously, the Brazilian Mauricio Neves hit very hard in a bleed, and it is not sure that his Race Touareg will be able to continue the race.

As for Robby Gordon, he suffered two punctures, then he got stuck in a dune, losing a total of 45 minutes. As a result, it was Carlos Sousa, the best driver of the JMB Stradale team, who found himself in a very pleasant fourth place in the general classification. As for the French team, a smile was required since the five Racing Lancers are still there, showing excellent reliability and their drivers showing relative caution.

In Iquique, this Thursday evening, the competitors reached the extreme northern point of their Chilean route. Tomorrow they will head south to return to Antofagasta. Despite the proximity of the Atacama dunes, a sea breeze pleasantly cools the bivouac, located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.