10 January 2003 - 12:03 Sainct and Peterhansel increase lead, Loprais out Dakar 2003 : Stage 7 - 584 km

A perfect day on two and four wheels for France in today's longest stage of the Telefonica Dakar rally. On the 584kms of the special between Ghadames and Ghat, Richard Sainct claimed the stage win, increasing his overall leadership. In the cars, Peterhansel took advantage of his navigation skills to add a second straight victory and a fourth special to his 2003 record book leaving his team mate Masuoka over ten minutes behind. According to all however, these gaps don't mean a lot. In the truck race, the main event of the day was Loprais' crash, forcing him to quit the rally and De Rooy's suspension problems. Meanwhile son Gerardus claimed the win to become the new overall leader.

"Whoever started first finished fifth and whoever started fifth finished first. I don't know what the solution is." Alfie Cox' (KTM - n.2) words are a perfect explanation of the bike race so far. And as expected the South African who took off first finished... fifth. On a very dusty track, it was indeed easier to start behind the others and catch them up one after the other exactly like in the three previous days in Africa. And today, it was Sainct's (KTM - n.3) turn to fly to victory.
"We stayed together almost all day. I did the last 20kms with Meoni." Twenty kilometres with the man who had started the day, two minutes ahead of him. In other words it meant that Sainct would win the stage and increase his leadership to 1min47 on the Italian, his main rival. Roma (KTM - n.4) finished third, Despres (KTM - n.7) fourth.

"You win the Dakar by awaiting the mistakes of others, by awaiting mechanical problems, by awaiting a different terrain to make the difference. The Dakar is sometimes won by the best and sometimes won by the one who uses his brain", and two-time winner Meoni knows what he's talking about.
The biggest bike upset of the day however came from Esteve Pujol (KTM - n.5) who had to withdraw from the race with a broken engine.

Another man who knows his Dakar by heart is Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi - n.206). In the car race, the multiple bike winner, made the best of his navigational experience deciding to follow bikers on the good track while Masuoka (Mitsubishi - n.200) got lost on a different path. And at the end of the day Peterhansel had won over 11 minutes on the Japanese 2002 champion.

"It's a first battle won against Masuoka but we're still far from the finish. Ten minutes represents two punctures. We've only won a point."

Far, far behind, Ari Vatanen (Nissan - n.204) won the battle between what can be considered as the others: the none Evo drivers. And what a battle it is. After De Mevius (n.205) and the BMW, it was the Finn's turn to conquer third position...27min04 adrift in front of De Villiers (Nissan - n.217), 29min13s, Kleinschmidt (Volkswagen - n.203), 29min25.
Peterhansel's explanation on this big gap isn't really due to his phenomenal car: "If Vatanen is 20 minutes behind, it's because he must have lost himself or had punctures but on a normal day, we wouldn't have gained so much time. Our time is good because we didn't make the slightest mistake. It isn't because we went full speed. We were faster in the previous days."

Indeed, that's exactly what happened as Vatanen explains: "We got lost and drove an extra 20 kilometres."
In the car overall, 'Peter' has a 12min21 lead on Masuoka while new third man Shinozuka (Nissan - n.201) who finished 8th on the day, is now 51 minutes adrift.

In the truck race, stage 7 was the scene of quite a few crashes and mechanical incidents. The first concerning six-time Dakar winner Karel Loprais (n.408), wrecking his Tatra luckily without any injuries. A few kilometres later, it was De Rooy's (DAF - n,409) turn to wreck three suspensions on a jump. The Dutchman was still expected on the bivouac at 18h00. After 498kms, Tchaguine (Kamaz - n.407) was forced to stop to check out his truck. An incident that gives special victory to De Rooy Junior (DAF - n.414) finishing 1min41 ahead of the Russian. Adding to that, the young man now leads the overall with a very slim 2min14 advantage on Tchaguine.

raid-live.com, 08/01/2003