car
A 1 dollar part broke
We lost a CV joint boot and when we finished the first special we tried to change it. It took us too long to change and we missed the transfer section. At the end it was very bad and the silt is all inside the clutch, so we've lost the clutch and a wheel fell off… We've just had a bad day – we had a horrible day. The only way we'll win is if the other guys have problems, but I'm pretty sure De Villiers got past us too. But, you know, that's the Dakar. You fight, fight, fight and hopefully it doesn't get you, but today it just got us, for no reason. A 1 dollar part, a hose clamp broke. That put is in a position to miss everything else, so it was a bad day for us, but we'll just keep fighting until the end. We won't give up. You never know what will happen, so we'll ride to Lima.
truck
We were not pushing
Today was a nice stage, with a little bit of everything. It was fast with a lot of bumpy off-piste. The truck felt great, put we were not pushing. For me it was just a question of driving safely to the finish and not losing a lot of time to Ardavichus and Stacey, so I think it's been good. Hans passed us at the beginning of the stage, but he made a mistake navigating and we passed him again, so I think he lost a lot of time. Hans and Ardavichus are still behind me, so there's no problem with that.
truck
I prayed to God that my suspension would hold out
I wanted to start at maximum attack speed, but after fifty kilometres in the first section I went through a river and nothing happened, but my springs were broken so I had to slow down. I pushed in the first section but in the last section I took care and prayed to God that my suspension would hold out until the finish. It was a very dangerous stage for trucks but I'm happy to be here at the finish again. I hope I'm still fighting with Ardavichus to keep second place because I passed him and he stayed behind. Every minute he stays away from me gives me more time, but it's still a long way to go.
bike
Apart from attacking and riding, there wasn't much to do
After a modification to the road-book, one of the tracks wasn't very visible. I rode 100 metres to far, but I saw that Marc was turning round, even though he started two minutes before me. The day already started with a bath in a stream, pushing alongside the bike. It was a tough day, all in all! An important development might be if someone moves in between Marc and me. In any case, apart from attacking and riding, there wasn't much to do today. Mind you, if Farres has actually finished 2nd, it's not good for me. Tomorrow will be complicated, but anything can happen on the Dakar.
bike
Three days left to give it everything
We had a mixture of several types of terrain: earthy, sandy and stony. It was predictable that Cyril would gain time on me today. I'm going to try my utmost right until the end. There are three days left to give it everything. It's difficult to define a strategy when Cyril is riding flat out in front! I'll just have to follow him. It won't be flat out, but the pace will again be quick, like it has been since the beginning of the race.
bike
We are having a good Dakar
Being able to finish 2nd is important for me and for the team. When I arrived at the neutralised stage, I was told that I was in the lead. I increased my speed from there on to continue like before and try and win a stage on the Dakar. In the end, it wasn't possible, but I'm happy because yesterday I was suffering physically but today I'm feeling much better. We are having a good Dakar. All the team is doing well. We are consistent and have managed some well placed finishes.
car
We'll have to play it safe
We didn't drive at a really fast pace, but we didn't have any technical or navigation problems, so it was a good special, but not very pleasant to drive because of the fesh-fesh. There wasn't much visibility, even opening the road, because the wind blew the dust up making it difficult to see. I overtook Nani several kilometres from the finishing line: he got stuck on a little dune trying to avoid a biker, but he didn't even need to get out of the car to get going again. As for Gordon, whatever happens now, he will just be carrying on to Lima for the enjoyment. There's around twenty minutes between Nani and me now, with two big stages of dunes to come. There'll be a lot of dune cresting and we know that if we get stuck in a hollow between them we could lose a lot of time. We'll have to play it safe. It's always been like that. Each time I've won the car race, I always had a team-mate hot on my heels: Masuoka, Alphand… There's always been this sort of pressure to handle.
car
He's someone who doesn't make many mistakes
I had two bikers ahead of me and a small dune and one of them fell in front of me, so I was stuck for two minutes, but it's not too bad. I didn't lose too much time, perhaps two minutes. Everything is ok, we're happy to be here now and with Stephane, we drove a very good race. I don't know if I have a chance because Stephane is quite far ahead. But I'm happy for all the team. There are twenty minutes between us and you can lose that much when you get really stuck in the sand. It can happen to anybody, but when I say that I'm not thinking about Stephane. With the experience that he has, he's someone who doesn't make many mistakes. In fact, I'm not counting on what the others do. I prefer to try and do my best by myself to finish in a good position in Lima.
quad
At times, it looked like Egypt
It was a magnificent but difficult stage. At times, it looked like Egypt. There was a lot of desert and I had to be careful with the quad since this is a marathon stage. We were lucky that nothing bad happened. We finished safe and sound with Alejandro. At the start of the day, it was a bit difficult to cross the two streams. In one of them I got stuck in the water. I managed to get out by heading left, but it was very muddy. Alejandro was also stuck for a while so I helped him. That's why we try to ride together as well. The desert here is different to the one in Chile and instead is quite like Egypt like I said. There are fewer mountains too. I think that the remaining stages won't be very simple.
car
It will be like a win for us
It was a pretty tough stage, I must say. I've never seen so much fesh-fesh in my life. I think it must be really tricky if you're further back. I'm just happy we that we are running far up front, but it really wasn't easy. The first part of the stage was tricky and the second part of the stage was tricky, with a lot of rocks. There was one climb in the canyon which was really steep. I must say, I'm glad I had four-wheel driver there, the Toyota came out of there first off. I didn't know about Gordon, but it's good news for us, though the main thing is we have to focus because there are two more difficult days left for us and the rally is not over yet. I've seen many of these rallies in the past and the team needs to stay focused, we need to do a good job and get the car to the finish now. It will be like a win for us if we can manage that, but first we have to finish the stages.
quad
I salute Peru and long live Argentina!
It was a great special and we've managed to get to Peru. I'm happy because Marcos and I are together. There was a lot of navigation, but we took it easy. We were very lucky and fortunately my brother was there with me. My quad got stuck in the mud and one of the wheels just wouldn't shift, it was stuck in the tyre tracks. Marcos was a few seconds behind me and if he hadn't been, I'd probably still be there. Our solidarity is very moving. After the link route, there was a section where we came across a 200 metre descent with a 45% gradient. The quad started skidding into the stones. It was scary, but really majestic. I think we can accomplish something good. We'll try and continue like that. I salute Peru and long live Argentina!
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