Bernhard ten Brinke: "The goal was not to beat Nasser today"

Dakar 2018 | Stage 12 | Fiambalá / Chilecito > San juan
January 18 ^th 2018 - 16:00 [GMT -3]

Bernhard Ten Brinke, fourth in the general standings, lost ground on his team-mate Nasser Al Attiyah and now trails him by more than 11 minutes.

“To be honest, we did not drive very slowly, but we did a good stage. Unfortunately, a sensor broke and the engine cut out. But I knew what it was so I took the hood off the engine and went under the car to disconnect the sensor. It cost us one and a half minutes, or something like that. We repaired everything, got going again and we drove a good stage. The problems came just at the end. Okay, it can happen, but it was no problem. Every day has been good, but now there’s a problem with one small sensor - shit happens…I don’t know what Nasser did, but for sure he was a little bit quicker. The goal was not to beat Nasser today. The goal was to make a good time, not to lose too much time and I think we did it well. To open the stage, look at the time we did: I think Michel did a very good job. I also drove well and overall we are happy, but it was the first time for Michel and me opening the stage”.