Euromilhões Lisboa - Dakar 2007 : Dakar

Breaking news

10:59

Rousselot changes category

Benoît Rousselot seems delighted to be lining up his new car in the queue for the T1s, the prototype vehicles. "I’ve been taking part in the rally in a T2 (production vehicle) for two years and I’m thrilled to be participating in the category above", admits the French rally champion of 2002, who is a member of the De Mevius team. This tarmac race specialist has been able to get the measure of his car’s behaviour on the dunes of Dubai. What are his goals for the rally? "We are a young team with a great spirit and we want to go on improving day by day throughout this edition of the Dakar. There are a lot of miles to be covered, so to make progress, we had better go the farthest possible".

10:57

David Frétigné aiming for the podium

With his 5th place in 2005 and still at the handle bars of a 450-cm3 Yamaha that is less powerful than the bikes of his main rivals, David Frétigné wants to go up a level this year, even to one of the steps on the podium. The Frenchman is therefore aiming for one of the first three places in the general rankings. During scrutineering, the native of the Aveyron area was alternating between the joy of reacquainting with the world of the Dakar and the stress of the final mechanical adjustments. "I have had a few small problems concerning connection with the Iritrack…And I’m going to be up in front of the commissaries in a quarter of an hour. It’s always a bit stressful", said the Frenchman, half worried, half smiling.

19:53

Bruno Saby getting back to basics

The winner of the car competition in 1993 will be present this year but with limited sporting ambitions, although his enthusiasm remains intact: "Taking part in the Dakar with a Fiat Panda is a completely new challenge, but one that is true to the spirit of the first Dakar rallies. I am going to use my experience in hoping to encourage a major brand to continue its involvement in this race". Bruno Saby, who has only had two weeks training in the Tunisian desert at the beginning of December with his new vehicle, hopes to go, "as far as possible".

18:09

Strength in numbers for South America

Carlo de Gavardo, 5th-placed and winner of two special stages last year, will not be taking part: he fractured an arm and had to pull out only a few weeks before the start date. However, the South American continent is not understaffed in the motorbike category. Chile will have a new flag-bearer in Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez, current rally-raid world champion on a sub-450 cm3 machine. Marcelo Miti and Orlando Terranova will be battling for the honour to become the first Argentine to finish the Dakar. Francisco Arredondo, the only Guatemalan representative, will be attempting to improve on his 58th place in the Dakar last year, whilst Brazilian Jean de Azevedo, already used to the top rankings, will be again aiming for a place in the top 10. In total, eight riders will be flying the flag for South and Central America during the rally.

17:34

Isuzu, the team with three faces

The three drivers of the Isuzu team arrived this morning at the scrutineering site. Not far from his vehicle, Edi Orioli, four-time winner of the race, set the record straight: "There isn’t any competition between the three of us because we each have different profiles. Markku Allen is a diehard rally driver, Albert Llovera is taking part in his first Dakar and has a different car, whereas I’m a pure specialist. We have to get to the finishing line. The worst thing that could happen is an early end to our race, like last year". For his first Dakar at the wheel of a car, Markku Alen has calmly diffused his Finnish coolness around his team’s vehicles: "For the moment, I’m in Lisbon as a tourist – I don’t feel anxious at all". What’s more, the Ice King (5 victories in the WRC 1000 Lakes Rally) is not scared of crossing the desert: "There are similarities between driving on ice and sand. You have to find the right speed, not to fast and not too slow". His goal is simple: to finish in the top 10.

17:13

Planet discovers the Dakar

In the car park of the Belem Cultural Centre, amid the regular fans of the Dakar, a young novice to the rally world arrived at noon, smiling from ear to ear on an orange motorbike. It was no other than the French endurance champion of 2006, Fabien Planet. Discovering the Dakar will not cost the rider from the Haute-Loire area, the happy winner of the Dakar Enduro Challenge, a thing. "My prime objective is to enjoy myself and reach Dakar. I am not going to strike out and injure myself stupidly because my priority this year is the endurance world championships. Reaching the finish will in itself be a fine accomplishment", said the endurance specialist before technical scrutineering.

16:55

Ruben Faria aiming for the Top 15

Ruben Faria had tongues wagging after his first participation in the Dakar last year by winning the special stage on the tracks of the region between Portimao and Malaga (2nd stage) and coming 35th in the general rankings on arrival in Dakar. A few minutes before undergoing scrutineering today, he was still busy fine-tuning his bike: "I overhauled the suspensions and shock absorbers yesterday evening and I haven’t even had time to try them out". But this has not stopped him sticking to his basic goal. This year, the professional Portuguese rider hopes to finish amongst the first 15 places.

16:44

The scrutineering programme

Since this morning, the site of the start has begun to buzz with the activity of the initial administrative and technical scrutineering. Today, one third of the participants will have to undergo these final formalities. As from eight o’clock, the first competitors, from the Iberian peninsula for the most part, have had to submit themselves to a circuit in which the organisers deal with checking the validity of passports, licenses, insurances, etc. Installation of safety devices such as the Iritrack or the Sentinel GPS system is also a very important moment during the day.
Afterwards, around 250 vehicles must undergo a strict M.O.T. The competitors who have received the final approval from the commissaries can then park their vehicle in a secure enclosure to which entry is forbidden until the day of the first stage. During a three day period, more than 1500 people and 750 vehicles will be submitted to the scrutiny of the commissaries.

16:31

The "Pre-start" in Madrid

Two years after the Grand Start organised at the Olympic site in Barcelona for the 2004 edition, the Dakar once again held pride of place in Spain, yesterday late afternoon. This time, it was in Madrid that a pre-start ceremony took place for the country’s competitors, who this year have genuine ambitions to win the rally. On the podium set up outside the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the many onlookers present were able to wish good luck to Isidre Esteve Pujol, who could well follow in the footsteps of his countrymen Marc Coma, as a winner of the race, and Carlos Sainz, who won four stages in his first attempt at the rally last year. The mayor of the capital, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, came to lend his support to the many competitors who started out on the route to Lisbon, before setting course to the south, toward Dakar.

16:07

Daniel Ribeiro: the eyes of the commissary

Technical scrutineering: under the eyes of the commissaries

Technical scrutineering has started. The competitors are undergoing tests on a circuit that Daniel Ribeiro, car/truck commissary for the third year running, knows like the back of his hand: "The scrutineering includes 2 vital stages, he explains. Everything concerning safety inside the vehicle, then the vital parts of the vehicle". All the equipment – seats, bucket seats, roll bars, headlights, etc. – must strictly comply with FIA standards. "Small modifications often need to be made, explains Daniel. Poorly welded roll bars, faulty circuit breakers, extinguishers past their expiry dates, etc. But in general, the majority of competitors have few problems during scrutineering". The competitors whose vehicles are not approved still have enough time to bring them into compliance with the standards before re-submitting them. "Last year, I refused three cars on the "bridge" – the line on which all scrutineering takes place – which I was in charge of, remembers Daniel Ribeiro, but the competitors did what was required and were all there at the start of the rally". The technical examination can turn out to be somewhat stressful amid the excitement of the start, but first and foremost its aim is to ensure participants’ safety and the fairness between all the competitors in the race.

16:06

The iron will of Amparo Ausina

Although she was the winner of the women’s motorbike category two years ago, if you ask what her greatest victory is, in a flash she replies, "Being on the starting line this year". With her motorbike, now blue instead of the Yamaha Spain team yellow, Amparo Ausina seems to have a new lease of life at the start of technical scrutineering. Despite the disappearance of the Spanish team last autumn, she never threw in the towel: "There was no way that I was not going take part in the Dakar this year. I fought tooth and nail, because I had to find sponsors within a matter of weeks". She is the only one of four riders faced with the same fate to have found a solution. In the end, Realia, a construction company, and Santiveri, a dietetics and health products firm, decided to stick with the rider from Denia until the very end. Her husband, José Domenech, airlifted last year following a serious accident, will also be there too as a mechanic. Under the Lisbon sun, number 41 has already identified her challenge: "I want to get there at all costs".

16:06

A new target for Sébastien Flute

Sébastien Flute, world archery champion in 1991, Olympic champion in 1992 then world champion in the team event in 1993, is also a desert and motor sports enthusiast. "When I was ten years old, we went on holiday to Djibouti for a fortnight. My father was serving in the navy and had been posted there for a year. I discovered Africa and the desert on that holiday and I have been hooked ever since". This year, Sébastien Flute is taking part for the first time in the organization of the rally. Along with Bruno Cretenet, he is in charge of checking whether the competitors pass through the various checkpoints spread over the course. Might this be a first step towards competing one day? "At one time or another, it has to be every enthusiast’s dream", readily admits Sébastien Flute. For the moment, it is one step at a time, though: "Right now, my mind is focused on the next three weeks of the race and my mission of validating passage controls, making sure I am at the various checkpoints and so on". The target may have changed, but true to form, Sébastien Flute wants to hit the bull’s-eye.