A traffic jam in the canyon

Dakar 2019 | Stage 7 | San Juan de Marcona > San Juan de Marcona
January 14 th 2019 - 02:00 [GMT -5]

An angry Camelia Liparoti rolled across the finish line of stage 6. Not just because she broke one of her Yamaha YZR1000 R's steering rods in the first part of the special. Camelia is angry because she had to hang around at the entrance to a canyon for almost two hours just because another competitor had the truly amazing idea to turn his car upside down there. "This canyon was already problematic last year", says the Italian driver. "It's very narrow and, when someone messes up, there's no room left for others to go through. Let's be honest, this wasn't rocket science. I just can't understand how he ended up like this." In the end, Camelia finished the stage after nightfall. Thankfully, she's no longer racing alone since the swapper her quad for a four-wheel vehicle for her eleventh Dakar. Camelia Liparoti is sharing her S×S with Nani Roma's wife, Rosa Romero Font. Their all-female crew has taught more than one boy a lesson. "It's a nice experience", she says adamantly. "It's great to share the race with someone. I'm learning lots of new things with my new vehicle. It's less physically demanding and easier to drive than a quad. I'm having a blast on the dunes. This morning, before we had a mechanical, we'd overtaken about thirty cars. It's just that we're driving a stock vehicle, so the mechanics are not as reliable as with a prototype." Standing in 38th place overall with four stages to go, the two women have, have still got some fight in them. "Everyone is struggling this year", insists Camelia. "The race isn't over yet."

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