Declarations
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I am very happy. The car is great even if it is a bit too big for the kind of course we had on these first two stages. That’s why I really focused on driving very safely. But we were good today. We overtook Schlesser and many other cars. It looked a bit like WRC and I loved it.
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Carlos Sainz (SPA - VW - 1st)
"Everything went fine today, I had even more pleasure than yesterday on the course. As for me, it’s not that perfect to have the leadership before joining Africa. I’m still waiting for the desert to know what I can really do over there".
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Luc Alphand (FRA - MIT – 2nd)
"That was a fantastic WRC stage, the pace was much higher than usual in the Dakar and I was a bit worried about the cliffs on the side of the course. Since our car has been made for the desert, Portugal was not the perfect ground for us but I did quite well in these two stages. As for me, my goal in Portugal was to stay in touch with the front-runners".
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Nani Roma (ESP - Mitsubishi – 3ème)
The stage was quite difficult but I really enjoyed myself today. It was a real pleasure even if we made a few little mistakes since the car was not built for this kind of course, with that much mud. Actually we will really be much better in the desert. It was quite fun here in Portugal, but the really serious things will start tomorrow in Africa.
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Simon Jean-Joseph (FRA - MER - 1st Production)
"Honestly it was not a very good day for me. I had many problems with my gear box. It was blocked and I had to stop. So I lost a bit of time. But the most important thing is that I really enjoyed myself driving on a beautiful stage. It was very important for me since I still need time to get perfectly used to the car. What’s more, except for this gear box problem, the car didn’t suffer too much. And that’s good."
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Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT - BMW – 3rd)
"I am very happy. The car is great even if it is a bit too big for the kind of course we had on these first two stages. That’s why I really focused on driving very safely. But we were good today. We overtook Schlesser and many other cars. It looked a bit like WRC and I loved it".
car
Nasser Al Attiyah ( QAT - Xraid-BMW – 3ème) :
I am very happy. The car is great even if it is a bit too big for the kind of course we had on these first two stages. That’s why I really focused on driving very safely. But we were good today. We overtook Schlesser and many other cars. It looked a bit like WRC and I loved it.
Hiroshi Masuoka (JAP, Mitsubishi, 4nd)
Hiroshi Masuoka (n°305 – 4ème) : « That was a great stage with winding and muddy roads and cleffs. We drove very fast today which wasn’t my first option at the beginning of Le Dakar 2006. It was like a rally stage not a classical Dakar stage because we were all motivated to test our cars”.