#Dakar2015, Day 12 (Stage 11) - Salta to Termas de Rio Hondo, Argentina - NEWS 📰 Autos, Business, Sports, India, Finance, Technology, Lifestyle, WRC, Health, Motorsport

Route for Bikes + Quads Route for Cars + Trucks Day 12 - Stage 11 , at Dakar 2015. The rally will continue on two separate route...

Route for Bikes + Quads

Route for Cars + Trucks

Day 12 - Stage 11, at Dakar 2015.

The rally will continue on two separate routes, following the famous Ruta 40 and winding through its magnificent landscapes. Drivers won't have time to relax on these fast routes though: the fatigue which will have accumulated by the 11th day of the race (the 4th marathon day for the motorcycles and quads!) will demand maximum concentration on both the route and the road-book. In the cockpits of the cars and trucks, the watchword will also be vigilance; these tracks are often lined with trees.

As the overnight halt was different for Bikes/Quads were different from Cars/Trucks, so was the route for the day. Both the squads took an altogether different route, where the bikers had to climb higher with altitude as well as a longer & grueling competitive section; than the folks who competed from within their roll protecting caged vehicles.

Bikes

Splashing through the desert stream in style..

Joan Barreda Bort on his Honda 450 Rally bike was the quickest across the flying finish, team-mate Paulo Gancalves was second quickest with just 17secs apart and Slovakian Ivan Jakes on his KTM 450 Rally Replica was third with 1m35s more on the timing sheet.

Marc Coma still topping the overall standings with 5m12s lead ahead of Paulo Goncalves, says,

We've managed to get through it. It's always stressful when you have to work on the bike, but everything is ok. There is still a difficult day to complete tomorrow then again on Saturday. I'm not thinking about the finish yet. We'll see, because there are still a fair few kilometres to go, but for the moment I'm happy”.

Young Australian, Toby Price is now on the third ranking with 31m43s to the leader, and 1m32s ahead of the chasing Chilean Pablo Quintanilla. First Indian, Dakar debutant Santosh CS finished in 34th place, 4 places ahead of his starting position and two places up the overall to 36th.

Top 5 Bikes, Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	2	BARREDA BORT (ESP)	HONDA	03:26:33	-	-
2	7	GONCALVES (PRT)	HONDA	03:26:50	00:00:17	-
3	21	JAKES (SVK)	KTM	03:28:08	00:01:35	-
4	11	FARIA (PRT)	KTM	03:28:16	00:01:43	-
5	26	PRICE (AUS)	KTM	03:28:50	00:02:17	-
34	59	C S SANTOSH (IND)	KTM	04:00:06	00:33:33	-

Overall Top 5 Bikes, after Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	1	COMA (ESP)	KTM	41:43:03	-	-
2	7	GONCALVES (PRT)	HONDA	41:48:15	00:05:12	-
3	26	PRICE (AUS)	KTM	42:14:46	00:31:43	-
4	31	QUINTANILLA (CHL)	KTM	42:16:18	00:33:15	-
5	18	SVITKO (SVK)	KTM	42:31:10	00:48:07	-
36	59	C S SANTOSH (IND)	KTM	55:23:59	13:40:56	00:40:00

Quads

Christophe Declerck savours his first stage victory

Frenchman, Christophe Declerck was the fastest man today on his Yamaha quad, and Nelson Augusto Sanabria Galeano, second by 6m35s, and Bolivian Nosiglia the third quickest by 6m50s, South-African Saajiman also finished with the same time at 6m50s

Overall standings is still held by Rafal Sonik, with a huge gap of 2h25m1s from the nearest; all he needs to do is finish with cruising speeds to take away the Legendary Dakar trophy. Similar situation for all the top 5 leaders, and risking it will be a no-brainer.

Top 5 Quads, Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	260	DECLERCK (FRA)	YAMAHA	03:56:39	-	-
2	256	SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY)	YAMAHA	04:03:14	00:06:35	-
3	283	NOSIGLIA (BOL)	HONDA	04:03:29	00:06:50	-
4	286	SAAIJMAN (ZAF)	YAMAHA	04:03:29	00:06:50	-
5	261	GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG)	YAMAHA	04:04:13	00:07:34	-

Overall Top 5 Quads, after Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	251	SONIK (POL)	YAMAHA	52:07:58	-	00:15:00
2	261	GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG)	YAMAHA	54:57:59	02:50:01	-
3	283	NOSIGLIA (BOL)	HONDA	55:50:01	03:42:03	00:20:00
4	256	SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY)	YAMAHA	56:24:25	04:16:27	00:00:30
5	260	DECLERCK (FRA)	YAMAHA	58:14:53	06:06:55	-

Cars

Nasser wins Stage 11

Qatari takes another stage victory today, making it the 5th for this year's edition. Orlando Terranova was just 27seconds slowest and Giniel De-Villers 39s, making it one of the seriously fought battle on the marathon rally. Saudi Arabian and debutant driver Yazeed Alrajhi was forced to retire, as his Toyota Hilux developed a terminal fault, with all help from the Toyota mechanics ending in vain.

Alrajhi retires with car issues

Nasser Al-attiyah extends his lead to 29m1s after today's stage, Giniel on pressure to win, thereby pressurizing the Qatari to end up in a mistake. So far, Nasser has smarted out the South African. Polish driver Holowczyc in another MiniAll4 is on a comfortable third in the ranking.

Top 5 Cars, Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	301	AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) BAUMEL (FRA)	MINI	01:53:10	-	-
2	305	TERRANOVA (ARG) GRAUE (ARG)	MINI	01:53:37	00:00:27	-
3	303	DE VILLIERS (ZAF) VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU)	TOYOTA	01:53:49	00:00:39	-
4	339	VANAGAS (LTU) RUDNITSKI (BLR)	TOYOTA	01:53:50	00:00:40	-
5	310	VASILYEV (RUS) ZHILTSOV (RUS)	MINI	01:54:26	00:01:16	-

Overall Top 5 Cars, after Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	301	AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) BAUMEL (FRA)	MINI	37:12:47	-	00:02:00
2	303	DE VILLIERS (ZAF) VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU)	TOYOTA	37:41:48	00:29:01	-
3	307	HOLOWCZYC (POL) PANSERI (FRA)	MINI	38:41:36	01:28:49	-
4	314	VAN LOON (NLD) ROSEGAAR (NLD)	MINI	40:06:56	02:54:09	00:40:00
5	309	LAVIEILLE (FRA) MAIMON (FRA)	TOYOTA	40:17:08	03:04:21	-

Trucks

Gerard De Rooy in his Iveco truck

Today, Iveco drivers Hans Stacey & Gerard De Rooy listed on the top two, while the Kamaz drivers have decided to conserve their trucks towards the finish line to take all the three trucks on the podium at the end of the race. Nikolaev was third quickest on today's stage.

Mardeev, Nikolaev & Karginov sit on top three positions comfortably.

Top 5 Trucks, Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	504	STACEY (NLD) BRUYNKENS (BEL) DER KINDEREN (NLD)	IVECO	02:08:11	-	-
2	501	DE ROOY (NLD) RODEWALD (POL) DAMEN (BEL)	IVECO	02:09:21	00:01:10	-
3	502	NIKOLAEV (RUS) YAKOVLEV (RUS) AKHMADEEV (RUS)	KAMAZ	02:10:07	00:01:56	-
4	510	VIAZOVICH (BLR) HARANIN (BLR) ZHYHULIN (BLR)	MAZ	02:10:11	00:02:00	-
5	508	VAN VLIET (NLD) PRONK (NLD) KLEIN (DEU)	MAN	02:11:18	00:03:07	-

Overall Top 5 Trucks, after Stage 11

Pos.	N°	Name	Mark	Time	Difference	Penalty
1	507	MARDEEV (RUS) BELYAEV (RUS) SVISTUNOV (RUS)	KAMAZ	38:24:13	-	-
2	502	NIKOLAEV (RUS) YAKOVLEV (RUS) AKHMADEEV (RUS)	KAMAZ	38:35:24	00:11:11	-
3	500	KARGINOV (RUS) MOKEEV (RUS) LEONOV (RUS)	KAMAZ	39:11:57	00:47:44	00:01:00
4	503	LOPRAIS (CZE) MARCO ALCAYNA (ESP) VAN DER VAET (BEL)	MAN	39:46:06	01:21:53	-
5	520	SOTNIKOV (RUS) DEVYATKIN (RUS) AFERIN (RUS)	KAMAZ	40:48:29	02:24:16	00:02:00

NEXT: Day 13, Stage 12 - The Penultimate Day/Stage!

Route map of Stage 12

The Dakar will spend the night near the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, which regularly hosts the Argentine rounds of the GP and WTCC motorbike championships.

Elevation profile of Stage 12

But the Dakar's competitors are set for a long cross-country journey, battling it out in this tension-packed penultimate day. A combative driver could still shake up the leaders' positions even at this stage. And drivers who become too distracted could be caught by surprise by the surrounding vegetation!

For the next two days will be important, as the stages are common for all the categories of competition and with very little elevation changes, the race will be flat out for the tight-competitive timings, less stage and more liaison sections. It is a race for endurance and rigorous competition. It will be exciting for sure! So, see you tomorrow, till then have a good time!