#Dakar2015, Day 7 - Iquique, Chile to Uyuni, Bolivia (Cars & Trucks only)

Cars

Route for Cars, Day 7

Numerous difficulties will mark the first part of the Bolivian marathon stage. The cars will tackle it first, followed by the motorcycles the next day. Right from the outset, the long liaison section will mean an early start, followed by a gradual climb to a height of more than 3,500m. Once on the high plateaux, the special stage will begin, with instructions to follow the road-book with great care, in light of the large number of junctions on the route. One of the challenges of the day could be wear and tear on tyres. Once they have arrived in Uyuni, the competitors will only have completed half of the marathon stage.


Trucks

Route for Trucks, Day 7

The trucks will once again embark upon a separate marathon stage, with the added bonus of competing on a route which is specifically for them. The leaders' driving skills in the dunes will make the difference on this first separate day, with long and decisive sandy sections. Once again, they will need to find the right balance between self-control and performance. When they reach their private bivouac, the on-board mechanics will become the key players in this marathon stage.

CARS

Yazeed Al-rajhi at Uyuni

Cheering Crowd at Uyuni, Bolivia

Today, the cars started early, and they were the lone class of competition on the stages as Bikes & Quads had a rest day back at Iquique. Orlando Terranova was the first to arrive at the Bolivian town, Uyuni. Yazeed Al-rajhi came in 2m20s slower to the Argentinian, and for the first time, Ten Brinke of Netherlands in a Toyota Hilux finished third fastest.

Nasser Al-attiyah still holds on to the first overall spot with a margin of 8m14s, as his primary rival, Giniel De-Villers too had a setback in this stage, just a little more than a couple of minutes in today' stage. Al-rajhi however closed in towards De-villiers, yet quite far from any immediate threat to his position at the moment.

 Overall Top 5, Cars after Stage 7

TRUCKS

Ales Loprais in his Man truck

Ales Loprais drove his Man truck fastest today, 5m39s ahead of Gerard De Rooy, who was in his Iveco. Kamaz driver Andrey Karginov was third quickest, with just 10s separating him from the second placed De Rooy.

Overall top 3 is still held by Kamaz drivers, Airat Mardeev, Karginov & Sotnikov.

 Top 5 Trucks, Stage 7

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	503	LOPRAIS (CZE) MARCO ALCAYNA (ESP)  VAN DER VAET (BEL)	MAN	04:02:54	-	-
2	501	DE ROOY (NLD) RODEWALD (POL) DAMEN (BEL)	IVECO	04:08:33	00:05:39	-
3	500	KARGINOV (RUS) MOKEEV (RUS) LEONOV (RUS)	KAMAZ	04:08:43	00:05:49	-
4	520	SOTNIKOV (RUS) DEVYATKIN (RUS) AFERIN (RUS)	KAMAZ	04:10:11	00:07:17	-
5	507	MARDEEV (RUS) BELYAEV (RUS) SVISTUNOV (RUS)	KAMAZ	04:11:08	00:08:14	-

 Overall Top 5, Trucks after Stage 7

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	507	MARDEEV (RUS) BELYAEV (RUS) SVISTUNOV (RUS)	KAMAZ	22:35:32	-	-
2	500	KARGINOV (RUS) MOKEEV (RUS) LEONOV (RUS)	KAMAZ	22:57:45	00:22:13	00:01:00
3	520	SOTNIKOV (RUS) DEVYATKIN (RUS) AFERIN (RUS)	KAMAZ	23:19:38	00:44:06	00:02:00
4	503	LOPRAIS (CZE) MARCO ALCAYNA (ESP)  VAN DER VAET (BEL)	MAN	23:46:52	01:11:20	-
5	510	VIAZOVICH (BLR) HARANIN (BLR) ZHYHULIN (BLR)	MAZ	24:21:40	01:46:08	-

Day 8, Bikes & Quads ride onto Bolivia to join the cars at Uyuni, who will [have] make a return for the rest day of the rally. As the Bikes & Quads ride into Uyuni, cars will start a returning stage to Iquique [on Day 9], to join the returning Trucks [who too have a rest day tomorrow, near] at Iquique.

As today, tomorrow too will be brief in action, as only half of the crowd to compete. Tomorrow, it will be filled with action, as the cars take a different stage down hill to Iquique.