Colin-on-Cars - Audis deliver ominous pace as Loeb chips away at Attiyah’s lead

Dakar Rally Day 8 ended up dispelling a few myths in the car race on the day. But the overall race remained tense as second man Sebastian Loeb continued to hunt leader Nasser Al Attiyah down. Daniel Sanders meanwhile reclaimed the overall bike lead with a dominant performance on the road to Wadi Ad Dawasir.

Sebastien Loeb

If anyone was concerned about the new petrol-electric Dakar Audi RS Q e-Tron’s lack of speed, that was officially dispelled on Monday’s complex 396 km run. Rookie crew Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist put one over Mister Dakar, 14-time winner Stéphane Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger in an emphatic maiden Audi 1-2. Teammates Carlos Sainz Sr. and Lukas Cruz were fourth. Third overall by over two minutes, Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s BRX Hunter was more likely the main focus of attention on the day. 

Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist

All eyes were on Loeb and Lurquin, because they took more than seven minutes out of Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel’s Gazoo Toyota Hilux’s overall car lead. They now sit under 38 minutes adrift. Attiyah suffered a differential issue and a puncture on the day. That said, the wily Qatari can be said to be preserving his Hilux. To stave the french multiple World Rally Champion off when he needs to, later in the week. Loeb is on the other hand eking all he can out of his Hunter, to close the gap. Still, Attiyah came home outside the day’s top ten.

Climbed

That left Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings as the best of the factory Gazoo Hiluxes in fifth. Teammates Giniel de Villiers and Denis Murphy were ninth and consistent Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen 12th. De Villiers and Murphy climbed two places overall to seventh overall and still have a realistic shot at a podium, with four full days of desert racing still to come. Variawa and Stassen meanwhile climbed to 13th overall, one place ahead of Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s Century. They ended outside Monday’s top 20.

All-South African Century Racing trio, Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne were provisionally 39th, and Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren 52nd. But Chris Visser and Rodney Burke’s splendid run inside the top 20 came to an end with the crew still racing deep in the stage, having lost 3 hours at the time of writing. SA-born navigator Taye Perry ended 15th reading notes in Dakar bike legend Cyril Despres’ Peugeot. And Ryan Bland sat 43rd with Daniel Schroder in their SA-built Red-Lined VK 50.

Drama

There was once again drama before the bike stage even started. Botswana’s triple South African Cross Country champion Ross Branch opted not to further risk his Friday leg injury and joined Daniel Sanders and Skyler Howes in retirement before the start. Ross was just starting to warm up, having ended second by just two seconds to MotoGP refugee sensation on Thursday, before crashing hard on Friday. He rejoined on Sunday but decided to put discretion ahead of valour Tuesday morning.

Sam Sunderland

If Sunday was difficult for bikers Sam Sunderland and Mattias Walkner, they certainly made good on Monday. Taking advantage of their 27th and 23rd starting positions, Sunderland’s Gas Gas led all the way. Walkner moved his KTM into second at 200 km, only for Pablo Quintanilla’s Honda to pip him at the post. Ricky Brabec’s Honda was fourth from KTM duo, rookie privateer Mason Klein and Toby Price. So, Sunderland re-took the overall lead from Walkner, former leader Adrian van Beveren’s Yamaha and Quintanilla.

Rookie

SA riders, Bradley Cox’s KTM was 16th and second in rookie Moto 2, and Aron Mare’s Hero 21st. Mare sits 17th overall, Cox 18th. SA rookie Charan Moore was 44th overall and fifth in the no-service Original class, Botswana's John Kelly 47th and 7th in Original. They provisionally respectively lie fourth and seventh in Original. Fellow ‘Malle Moto’ men, Stuart Gregory was 86th and Werner Kennedy 114th overall. Swaziland’s Walter Terblanche was running 91st on Monday, Mozambican Paulo Oliveira 115th.

In the other Dakar classes, Overall leader Alex Giroud fought Marcelo Medeiros off for the quad win with Pablo Copetti third. The lightweights were still racing as we wrote, with Goczal brothers Marek and Michel fighting it out for Side by Side honours with overall leader Austin Jones in pursuit. Seth Quintero was battling Pavel Lebedev in the prototypes with overall leader Francisco Contardo keeping a watching brief. And Kamaz four, overall leader Sotnikov, Karginov Shibalov and Nikolaiev were in control of the trucks.

Tuesday's mountainous eighth stage is a shortish 287km dash around Wadi Ad Dawasir. The two-week 4,000 km two-week Dakar Rally across the Saudi Arabian Desert finishes in Jeddah on Friday. 

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Colin-on-Cars - Loeb takes day, Attiyah still in control as Flormino wins dramatic bikes

Sunday’s Dakar Rally Day 7 proved a dogfight in the desert as Sebastien Loeb and Nasser Al Attiyah escaped a multi-car dice to see second man Loeb took the day and more than five minutes out of Attiyah’s overall lead.

Nasser versus Sebastian

It was a dramatic day in the bikes as third overall Daniel Sanders crashed out of the race in a crash en route to the day’s racing stage and the other two top men overall were delayed to see Jose Florimo take the day and Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren to move into the rally lead.

The 402 km race from Riyadh to Al Dawadimi commenced with 100 km of dunes before a less technical, but more navigationally challenging maze of winding tracks. It proved something of a dogfight up front with overall car leaders Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel’s Gazoo Toyota Hilux, and second, third and fourth crews, Yazeed Al Rajhi and Michael Orr’s Hilux, Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s BRX Hunter fighting it out in a group at the head of the car bunch. 

They were joined by Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ Gazoo Hilux, and Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist, Carlos Sainz Sr. and Lukas Cruz’ and Stéphane Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger’s petrol-electric Audi RS Q e-Trons. All of the above were initially in or about the top three in an epic battle that raged for most of the morning. But de Villiers hit trouble and lost 50 minutes and Lategan 40 as he stopped to help his stricken teammate. While Loeb stormed ahead, as he opened his lead up over the pursuing Al Attiyah up front. 

Stephane Peterhansel

Loeb duly took the day by 5 minutes from Attiyah, Sainz, Peterhansel, Al Rajhi and Bernhard Ten Brinke’s Hilux. Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen’s Hilux and Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s Century both had good days to once again keep South African hopes alive in a provisional 12th and 13th. Century trio Chris Visser and Rodney Burke were provisionally 26th, Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne 40th and Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren 53rd. SA navigators Taye Perry was 26th and Ryan Bland 43rd. 

All of which saw Loeb slice his deficit to Al Attiyah to three-quarters of an hour overall, with Al Rajhi handily placed 9 minutes adrift in third. Jakub Przygonski’s Mini, Orlando Terranova’s Hunter, Vladimir Vasiliyev’s BMW and Martin Prokop’s Ford are fighting over eighth, with de Villiers looming large in ninth. Visser is 16th, Variyawa 17th and Baragwanath 18th.

There was huge drama before the bike stage even started. Third rider overall and the winner of stages 1 and 6, Daniel Sanders crashed out in the open section en route to the start. The Aussie injured his left arm and was taken to hospital. That left overall leader, Brit Sam Sunderland to defend Gas Gas honour alone after the team’s two riders had led Dakar 2022 for most of the way through the first week.

Jose Ignacio Conrejo Florimo

Sanders joins Husqvarna star Skyler Howes' in retirement, but there was good news for SA fans as Botswana hero Ross Branch took his joker to return to Dakar aboard his Yamaha on Sunday, after crashing out in Friday’s truncated bike stage. Like MotoGP refugee Danilo Petrucci, who’s KTM Branch followed home in second on Thursday, Ross rejoins and can still qualify for world rally raid championship points handed to the top five in each discipline at the Dakar, for the first time this year.

Aussie Toby Price led early on before he and teammate Walkner faded. So Chilean Jose Ignacio Conrejo Florimo led the way to win for Honda from reigning champion Kevin Benavides’ KTM, Honda teammate, Joan Barreda Bort nursing a shoulder injury, Benavides’ brother Luciano, Lorenzo Santolino’s Sherco and Joaqim Rodriguez’ Hero. Ross Branch ran fifth early in before dropping down the order and fighting back to 13th. SA lads, Bradley Cox’s KTM was 20th and second in rookie Moto 2, and Aron Mare’s Hero 22nd. 

Dakar rookies, SA man Charan Moore provisionally ended 40th, Botswana rider John Kelly 56th and SA's Stuart Gregory 86th and Werner Kennedy 97th. All four are racing in the Original class, without back-up crew and must service their machines themselves. Moore and Kelly, who topped Friday’s ‘Malle Moto’ podium, were fourth and 8th in class on Sunday, Gregory 19th and Kennedy 22nd. Moore sat third overall behind Lithuanian Arunas Gelažninkas in Malle Moto, Kelly 6th. Gregory 13th and Kennedy 24th Sunday evening.

Swaziland’s Walter Terblanche was 100th on Sunday, Mozambican Paulo Oliveira 115th. Overall, it’s all change up front, where Adrian van Beveren, who ended 10th on Sunday, moved into a 5 minute overall lead over  KTM man Mattias Walkner, who ended a troubled 24th on the day. Kevin Benavides sat third from former leader Sunderland’s Gas Gas, Santolino, Pablo Quintanilla’s Honda, teammate Barreda and Stefan Svitko’s private KTM in 7th. All of them are within ten minutes of the lead.

Shameer Variawa

Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros surprised with a quad win over leaders Alex Giroud and Pablo Copetti. Overall truck leader Sotnikov lost time early on, leaving Kamaz teammates Shibalov and Nikolaiev to fend off van der Brink’s Iveco at mid distance. Seth Quinterio led Red Bull teammate Christina Gutierrez and overall leader Francisco Contardo’s Can Am in the Lightweights and Austin Jones was ahead and into the overall Side by Side lead from Marek Goczal with overnight leader Rodrigo de Oliveira in trouble.

Monday’s 395 km 8th stage run across wildly changing terrain from Al Dawadimi to Wadi Ad Dawasir continues the epic two week 4,000 km race on a 6,500 km route across the Saudi Arabian Desert to Friday's finish in Jeddah.

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Colin-on-Cars - SA-built Toyotas 1-2-4-5 as South Africans star in Dakar Rally Day 6

Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel now lead a proudly South African Toyota Hilux Dakar 1-2 by over 50 minutes after another tough day in the Arabian dunes.

Argentine duo Orlando Terranova and Daniel Carreras' BRX Hunter won day 6 in the cars. It was a positive day for South African crews. Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s Century fourth and Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen’s Gazoo Hilux seventh.

Brian Baragwanath

Gas Gas duo Sam Sunderland and Daniel Sanders led a truncated bike stage as Botswana  hero Ross Branch tumbled out of the race.

The cars and other four wheelers swapped their Thursday routes with the bikes and quads for Friday's 421 kilometre Dakar Day raid around Riayadh ahead Saturday’s well-earned rest day. It was not without those regular Dakar dramas. Despite many tracks to follow, the day-to-day results yo-yo continued as the first cars and bikes on the road once again suffered greatly while opening the way. 

First and second cars away Friday morning, Toyota Gazoo Hilux duo Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings and Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s BRX Hunter fared well enough through the first sector. But they dropped well out of contention by the second waypoint to join third and fourth crews away, Luciano Alvarez and Araman Monelon’s Hilux and Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier’s Century CR6 well outside of the top 30.

Nasser Al Attiyah

Seventh away Friday morning, overall leaders Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel’s Gazoo Hilux moved ahead by the 120 km waypoint. They were pursued by Terranova, Swedes Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist’s petrol-electric Audi and Baragwanath and Cremer’s CR6. Saudi home hero Yazeed Al Rajhi and Michael Orr, and Variawa and Stassen’s Hiluxes were next. All of them had started outside the top 15.

The drama escalated later in the stage, when positions, and the lead chopped changed as crews struggled to find their way. By the time the dust had settled, Terranova had taken the day from Ekström, Al Rajhi and Baragwanath. Nani Roma and Alex Bravo's BRX Hunter popped up in fifth ahead of Bernhard ten Brink and Sébastien Delaunay’s Hilux, which pipped Variawa to sixth. Al Attiyah ended up tenth, but well ahead of his closest overall challenger, Al Rajhi, who moved to second, 6 seconds clear of Loeb.

South African factory Hilux crew, Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy’s ended a provisional 14th, but their day was made when their 5 hour penalty for bumping a biker was retracted on new evidence, catapulting them back up to fourth on Friday evening. Which means that there are four Toyota in the top five with Attiyah leading Al Rajhi, with Loeb's Hunter third ahead of de Villiers and Alvarez.

Shameer Variawa

of the other South Africans, Lategan and Cummings 30th. Thursday’s heroes Chris Visser and Rodney Burke’s ended 33rd, while Century teammates Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne were running in the top 30, Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren in the top 60. SA navigators Taye Perry was 35th and Ryan Bland 56th. Overall. Visser provisionally sat 14th, Variyawa 17th and Baragwanath 18th.

It was a similar scenario in the bikes, which did not start well for Thursday's top two. MotoGP hero Danilo Petrucci crashed his KTM and dropped out of the top 50. Even worse off, Ross Branch tumbled from his Yamaha and was forced to retire. Up front meantime, in spite of the many tracks to follow, the route challenged the riders who opened the special are having serious navigation problems after 100 km, so as with the cars, the order was shaken up early on

The motorcycle race was stopped at the second of the day’s planned 8 checkpoints as the track had become dangerous after being churned up by the cars ad trucks on Thursday. At which point Gas Gas duo, third man overall Sam Sunderland led overall leader Daniel Sanders and  second overall Mattias Walkner’s KTM. SA riders, Aron Mare was 26th, Charan Moore 28th, John Kelly 34th, Stuart Gregory 67th, Werner Kennedy 81st, Paulo Oliveira 96th and Walter Terblanche 97th. Mare is 16th overall, Cox 20th and Moore 38th.

Giniel de Villiers - back in the hunt

In the other Dakar classes, as ever in the trucks where overall leader Karginov led overall leader Sotnikov and Nikolaiev home in a Kamaz 1-2-3. Marek Goczal beat overall leader Rodrigo de Oliveira, and Sergei Kariyakin in the Side by Sides and Seth Quinterio and Christina Gutierrez led overall leader Francisco Contardo home in the  for UTV honours. And Alexandre Giroud and Russian Alexei Maksimov headed overall leader Pablo Copetti in the quads. 

78 of the 92 cars, 130 of the 144 motorcycles, 100 of the 117 lightweights and quads and 53 of 56 trucks that started 2022’s 44th Dakar Rally on New Years Day, reached the halfway point at Riyadh on Friday. Saturday is Dakar’s traditional rest day, before crews continue on their epic 4,000 km race on a 6,500 km route across the Saudi Arabian Desert to the finish in Jeddah on Friday 12 January. Sunday’s seventh stage is a 299 km race over the dunes to Al Dawadimi.

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Colin-on-Cars - SA champ Henk takes first car win, Branch second on bikes

It was a huge day for South African competitors on Dakar's Day 5 around Riyadh. Toyota Gazoo Hilux duo Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings finally delivered on their stage winning promise to bring their Toyota Gazoo Hilux home to a fine victory.

Henk Lategan

Botswana rider Ross Branch finished a fine second on two wheels, behind Italian MotoGP racer and Dakar rookie sensation Danilo Petrucci's KTM after first man home duo, Aussie Toby Price was booked three minutes for speeding .

Ross Branch

Action

There was however more drama before the action even started Thursday morning. The fourth car overall overnight, Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy’s Gazoo Toyota Hilux was slapped with a monster five hour penalty after a second incident involving a motorcycle.

That not only saw the South African crew join a long list of race favourites running at the back overall following a litany of different issues, but it also drew widespread criticism of Dakar continuing to race cars and bikes on the same route.

By way of circumstance, while portions of the cars and bike routes have on occasion been separated for safety reasons, Thursday’s romp around Riyadh just happened to be the first ever Dakar stage where the motorcycles raced a completely different route to the cars.

Tough going

That considered, both the cars and bikes became tales of two races as the first machines to start found the going tough as they opened the road. Leaving those who started further back to fight it out for the day’s glory.

All of which played perfectly into Lategan and Cummings’s hands as they not only made good for the team’s overnight woes. They also finally broke their duck. Starting 16th, the triple South African Cross Country champions initially diced Swedes Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist’s petrol-electric Audi RS Q e-Tron before pulling away to win their first Dakar stage after leading on several occasions over the past two years.

Behind them, Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s BRX Hunter bounced back after losing time up front early on. The WRC legend set a scorching pace later in the stage to leapfrog up from fourth to second in the final sector.

Sebastian Loeb

Third overall, ever-consistent Argentine privateers Luciano Alvarez and Araman Monelon’s Hilux led French crew Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier’s Century CR6 to a proudly South African third and fourth. Ahead of Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq’s Thunder buggy.

Disappointed

Another ever-present Dakar force Jakub Przygonski and Timo Gottschalk’s Mini was sixth from disappointed de Villiers and Murphy and overall leader Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel’s Gazoo Hiluxes.

They kept a watching brief before turning on the taps later in the day to come home eighth and manage their overall gap to Loeb at 35 minutes. South African car crew Chris Visser and Rodney Burke continued to impress as they brought their Century CR6 home a stunning tenth and move up to take the top SA spot in 13th overall.

The other Audis had a tough day. Stéphane Peterhansel stopped to allow the stricken Carlos Sainz to rob his e-Tron of parts to continue. SA men, Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen’s Gazoo Hilux ran well but but slimped to 22nd. Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s Century were fourth before dropping back to finish 25th.

Duo

Tenacious Century duo Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren were 59th at the time of writing, Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne 60th. And SA navigators Taye Perry sat 34th and Ryan Bland 48th.

Nasser Al Attiyah

As it was in the cars, the first bikes away struggled. While Pettrucci and Branch, who both started outside the top ten made good with tracks to follow. As did Honda men Jose Florimo and Ricky Brabec in third and fourth, rookie Mason Klein’s KTM, and Price, who wound up sixth after his penalty.

South African rookie Bradly Cox had a solid ride to 22nd. Ahead of Wednesday’s top three, Honda teammates Pablo Quintanilla and Juan Barreda and Paulo Goncalves’ Sherco.

SA riders, Aron Mare was 25th, Charan Moore 40th, John Kelly 66th, Werner Kennedy 79th, Walter Terblanche 86th, Stuart Gregory 93rd, and Paulo Oliveira 115th.

Overall

Overall on two wheels, Sam Sunderland provisionally maintains Gas Gas’ iron grip on the bike race, two minutes clear of KTM’s Mattias Walkner and six up on Adrien Beveren’s Yamaha. Ross Branch is up to eighth, 18 minutes off the lead, Mare is 18th, Cox 22nd and Moore 40th.

The other Dakar classes were still racing at the time of writing. Overall leader Rodrigo de Oliveira and Maykal Justo headed Sergei Kariyakin and Andre Vlasuik in the Side by Sides. Seth Quinterio and Denis Zenz Red Bull led Sebastian Eriksson and Wouter Rosegaar and overall leaders Francisco Contardo and Pablo Vinagre’s Can Ams in the UTVs and Alexandre Giroud led overall leader Pablo Copetti in the quads.

It was ops normal in the trucks where overall leader Sotnikov was ahead of Shabilov and Nikolaiev in a Kamaz 1-2-3.

409 crews comprising 244 motorcycles, 92 cars, 117 lightweights and quads and 56 trucks started 2022’s 44th Dakar Rally Saturday 1 January. They are racing 4,000 kilometres over a 6,500 km route across the Saudi Arabian Desert to the finish in Jeddah on Friday 12 January. Friday’s Day 6 will see competitors racing 402 km of another 618 km loop around Riyadh

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Colin-on-Cars - Al Attiyah & Barreda win again, but Petrucci, Visser star.

It was all about new heroes on Wednesday’s longest Dakar Rally ‘22 stage. Day 4 was a gruelling 465 kilometre race between Al Qaysumah and Riyadh.

Overall leaders, Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel’s Gazoo Hilux won after first car home, Saudi local hero Yazeed Al Rajhi and Michael Orr’s Hilux was penalised for speeding. Honda duo Juan Barreda and Pablo Quintanilla took bike honours.

Nasser Al-Attiyah

But the day will be remembered for rookie former MotoGP star Danillo Petrucci, and SA drivers Henk Lategan and Chris Visser’s efforts.

Driving

Wednesday started well for Toyota Gazoo Hilux duo Lategan and Brett Cummings. They bided their time early on, before driving off to a 2 minute lead over Al Attiyah and Al Rajhi’s similar machines. Alas, Lategan and Cummings' Hilux picked up a hub problem and they were forced to stop and wait for assistance. Stéphane Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger once again joined the Toyota duo in an agonising wait. Their Audi suffered another suspension failure too.

Henk Lategan

That left Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz’ petrol-electric Audi RS Q e-Tron quattro fending off Al Rajhi and Al Attiyah. Nasser appeared to lose a little time to try help his stricken teammate Lategan.

Watching

Behind them, Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s BRX Hunter held a watching brief ahead of Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy’s Hilux, Mini duo, Yasir Seaidan and Alexey Kuzmich, and Jakub Przygonski and Timo Gottschalk, and French crew Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier’s SA-built Century CR6.

Giniel De Villiers

A concertina effect up front saw Al Attiyah close down on Al Rajhi, as both reeled Sainz in for an epic finish. The Toyotas passed the Audi with 50 km to race as Al Rajhi held Al Attiyah’s factory Gazoo machine off by just 14 seconds. Only for Al Rajhi to be demoted back to fourth. So, Al Attiyah took his 44th Dakar day win from Loeb, who powered ahead of Sainz and Al Rajhi, Seaidan de Villiers, Przygonski and Serradori. Overall, Al Attiyah opened his advantage to 38 minutes over Loeb, Al Rajhi and de Villiers two seconds behind.

Chris Visser

From a South African car point of view, besides Lategan’s efforts, the drive of the day had to be Chris Visser and Rodney Burke’s run in their Century CR6. Multiple SA champion and 4x4 expert Visser was drafted in to the rear-wheel drive buggy to replace Century boss Mark Corbett at the 12th hour. Having raced the Dakar in a bakkie in the South American years, Visser has been consistently inside the top 20 all week. But he and Burke were well within to top ten earlier in Wednesday's stage, before dropping back to 15th.

Better

At the time of writing, South African car crews Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s Century sat 19th and Shameer Variawa and Danie Stassen’s Gazoo Hilux 22nd. Taye Perry reading notes for Cyril Despres’ Peugeot 3008 was 29th and Ryan Bland and Daniel Schroder’s WCT Red-Lined VK50 39th. It was a better day for Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne, who were in 34th, and Schalk Burger and Henk Janse van Vuuren 45th. Both rewarded the Century team’s efforts to keep the cars going after they hit trouble earlier in the week.

Rally legend Schalk Burger, along with his co-driver Henk Janse van Vuuren in the King Price Xtreme Century Racing CR6 had a baptism by fire. On Stage 1, Burger and van Vuuren got stuck three times and missed two waypoints dramatically eating into their time. They had to drive the final 40 kilometres at night.

According to Burger, night driving in the desert is what horror movies are made of with them unable to see markers and finding it almost impossible to navigate. Fortunately, Stage 2 yielded better results with the team finishing the 338 kilometre special section before the sun went down.

And while the team wanted to pick up speed and focus on not getting stuck during the rain-shortened third stage, fate had other plans. Unfortunately, the engine overheated and broke down due to a refuelling mistake made by one of the crew members. Even though Schalk and Henk had to be towed in, they were still allowed to start today’s Stage 4 but required the crew to spend another long night to put in the spare engine.

Sadly, this did see Burger and van Vuuren fall to a 217th starting position. But as it has been seen by the first few stages, anything can change at any given moment.

Born

Dakar heroes are not often born. They are made. And if there ever was a case for a new Dakar hero being made, that was today in the bikes. Italian MotoGP refugee Danilo Petrucci put on a show that not many a MotoGP nor Dakar fan will ever forget. Former MotoGP winner Petrux had thought his Dakar was over on Monday when he lost his cell phone in the stage and could not contact his team after hitting trouble.

Danilo Petrucci

Still, the Italian sorted the issue and took a huge penalty and returned on Tuesday. He must have had his Jungle Oats Wednesday, as he shot into a stunning lead, which he held on to for 150 km on his KTM. He eventually lost the lead to Juan Barreda Bort, who took his second stage of the race from Honda teammate Pablo Quintanilla, with Petrucci a splendid third. Sherco teammates Paulo Goncalves and Lorenzo Santolino were fourth and fifth from Luciano Benavides’ Husqvarna and overall leader Sam Sunderland’s Gas Gas.

Botswana's Ross Branch was the best of Southern African bikers in 15th for Yamaha, with SA rookie Bradley Cox’s KTM once again impressing in 18th, with Aaron Mare provisionally 23rd. Behind them, Charan Moore was 47th, John Kelly 62nd, Stuart Gregory 74th, Terblanche 91st, Werner Kennedy 104th and Paulo Oliveira 120th. Overall on two wheels, Sam Sunderland still leads KTM’s Mattias Walkner and Adrien Beveren’s Yamaha, with Branch 11th, Mare 12th, Cox 23rd and Moore 40th.

Surprise

Marek Goczal and Lukasz Lakaswiek led Rodrigo de Oliveira and Maykal Justo, and Austin Jones and Gustavo Gugelmin in the Side by Sides. Seth Quinterio and Denis Zenz Red Bull led overall leaders, Francisco Contardo and Pablo Vinagre and Sebastian Eriksson and Wouter Rosegaar’s Can Ams in the UTVs. Russian Aleksandr Maksimov caused another quad surprise when he put one over Manuel Andujar and overall leaders Pablo Copetti and Alexandre Giroud. And Kamaz duo Nikolaievv and Shabilov let van Kasteren’s Iveco in the trucks.

Thursday’s 365 km loop around Riyaad starts on rocky tracks before more dunes later in the day.

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Colin-on-Cars - Top performers at Euro NCAP

A total of 33 cars went through the stringent Euro NCAP testing process during last year – of which, 22 achieved the top 5-star rating.

Among the successes, the Mercedes-EQ EQS emerged as best in the ‘Executive Car’ and ‘Pure Electric’ categories, narrowly beating runner-up the Polestar 2. 

Performance

In the ‘Small Off-Road’ category, the winner is the Nissan Qashqai with an outstanding performance in active safety. The award in the ‘Large-Off Road’ category goes to Škoda’s first all-electric SUV, the Enyaq iV.

The Toyota Yaris Cross took the top spot in the ‘Small MPV’ category and the Škoda Fabia was the best ‘Small Family Car’.

The Euro NCAP Best-in-Class award is given to those cars which perform best overall in categories with at least three entrants that year. Winners must have achieved a five-star rating and must have no critical body region coloured red in the full-scale tests.

Timelines

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP Secretary General, says: “2021 was a tough year for the car industry: a shortage of parts, semiconductors in particular, was the sting in the tail of the Covid crisis, affecting development timelines, production and sales.

“Still, we saw quite a number of new car models coming to the market, many of them electric or hybrid, and many of them achieving five-star ratings despite the demanding requirements. Well done to the winners as well as to the runners-up, some of which were very close contenders for the top slot in their respective categories.”

Results

Executive:   Mercedes-EQ EQS

Runner-up:                   Polestar 2

Large Off-road:             Škoda Enyaq iV

Runner-up:                   BMW iX

Small Family Car:          Škoda Fabia

Runner-up

Small Off-road:             Nissan Qashqai

Runner-up:                   Polestar 2

Runner-up:                   VW ID.4

Small MPV:                   Toyota Yaris Cross

Runner-up:                   VW Caddy

Pure electric:             Mercedes-EQ EQS

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Colin-on-Cars - Electric gets Best Cars vote

A UK panel of car designers, engineers, auto industry titans, motorsport legends, specialist journalists, broadcasters and media professionals have voted for their Best Cars of the Year 2021/2022.

The Kia EV6 and Hyundai IONIQ 5 tied for first place and were declared joint winners in this, the first-ever judging verdict from a new, revolutionary evaluation process.

Prove

The judges commented the shared win for the EV6 and IONIQ 5 further prove that Eui-Sun Chung, Chairman of the giant Hyundai-Kia organisation, is successfully shaking up the old-world order. 

In addition to the world champ Kia and Hyundai models, new cars from Audi, Toyota, Ford, Fiat and Porsche were highly rated by the wholly independent Best Cars of the Year (Best COTY) judging panel, which also includes leading vehicle retailers, automotive consultants, major event and motor club organisers, plus a handful of carefully selected real-world car buyers.

Unique

Manufacturers from South Korea, Germany, Japan, USA, Italy and France (in that order) did most to impress the hugely experienced and genuinely unique team of national and international Best COTY judges who operated under an unrestrictive, totally democratic, 'one person, one vote' system.

Remarkably, the 10 models voted for by those judges into this year’s Best COTY Top 10 are from 10 separate brands, based in six countries spread across the world's Top 3 car-producing continents – Asia, Europe and North America.

Star

As the reigning joint world champions, the Kia EV6 and Hyundai IONIQ 5 are scheduled to be two of the many star attractions expected on the Best Cars of the Year stand at the British Motor Show this coming August, when the selection, evaluation, test driving and voting process for the Best Cars of the Year 2022/23 project will begin.

BEST CARS OF THE YEAR 2021/2022 – OFFICIAL RESULTS

1st KIA EV6  /  HYUNDAI IONIQ 5

3rd AUDI E-TRON GT

4th TOYOTA GR YARIS

5th FORD MUSTANG MACH-E

6th FIAT 500

7th PORSCHE TAYCAN

8th CITROEN AMI

9th MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV

10th VW POLO*

* updated 2021/2022 version

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Colin-on-Cars - Fast cars and fine dining

Ettore Bugatti’s name is synonymous with stylish, elegant and fast cars but, the carmaker from Molsheim in Alsace was also something of a gastronome and created his own restaurant in which to entertain clients.

Molsheim, the birthplace of the Bugatti brand and the location of its headquarters to this day, is often mentioned in the same breath as the brand’s eponymous founder.

Established

However, there is a place just a few kilometres further south which has similarly close ties with Ettore Bugatti – the little Alsatian town of Obernai, where Clos Sainte Odile was established by Ettore Bugatti 100 years ago, subsequently becoming the two-star restaurant La Fourchette des Ducs, which exists to this day.

Clos Sainte Odile came about due to Ettore Bugatti’s plans to create an exclusive venue where he could fittingly receive his customers. Around 100 years ago, he asked his friends Lucien Weissenburger, Charles Spindler, and René Lalique to help him in this venture.

Carvings

Lucien Weissenburger was the owner of a winery in the Vosges mountains and running the restaurant was assigned to him. The talented Charles Spindler was, among other things, responsible for the carvings on the beams of the half-timbered house.

Artist René Lalique created some of the building’s exclusive interior design such as the matching wall lights.

Ettore began to receive customers in this extraordinary place of indulgence in 1921 and shared his love of cuisine with them there.

Clos Sainte Odile has since evolved and transformed into La Fourchette des Ducs. For more than 20 years now, head chef Nicolas Stamm and manager Serge Schaal have been preserving the spirit of Ettore Bugatti at this restaurant which has been awarded two stars in the Michelin Guide.

Historical

They achieve this on the one hand by creating an exceptional atmosphere that draws on the building’s historical furnishings. The Winter Room, for example, features wall lights designed specially by René Lalique as well as Ettore Bugatti’s favorite spot right by the fireplace, which is virtually one of a kind worldwide.

“The atmosphere in the Winter Room is really quite special. It is almost as if you could reach out and touch history here,” says Nicolas Stamm.

And it is not just the ambience that brings the building’s history to mind – so too do the dishes prepared by two-Michelin-starred chef Nicolas Stamm and his team.

Traditional Alsatian recipes from the time of Ettore Bugatti are regularly reinvented at La Fourchette des Ducs.

“While it is not always possible to replicate the dishes exactly from bygone times, we do try to encapsulate the essence of the recipes – exactly as the atelier in Molsheim does with its manufacture of Bugatti vehicles,” says Stamm.

Selection

During the holiday season, the restaurant will be offering its guests a special selection of traditional Alsatian desserts.

The chariot de Noël dessert cart features 15 exceptional desserts such as Sapin de Noël (Christmas tree), Tarte aux Poires (pear tart), and Tarte de Linz. There is one dessert that stands out in particular among the many offered – Tarte Obernoise, which Ettore Bugatti served around 100 years ago on his wedding day.

https://bit.ly/31dzHjE

Colin-on-Cars - Hyundai to showcase future vision

Hyundai Motor Company is presenting a vision of what the future might look like at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that starts in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 5.

Hyundai will present its future vision for robotics and the metaverse under the main theme of ‘Expanding Human Reach’.

At CES 2022, Hyundai Motor will communicate how the company’s robotics business will drive the paradigm shift towards future mobility, going beyond the traditional means of transportation and fulfilling mankind’s aspiration for unlimited freedom of movement.

Reach

Under the main theme of ‘Expanding Human Reach’, Hyundai Motor will share its vision of how robotics will complete the metaverse by connecting the virtual world with reality as a medium, and eventually overcome the physical limitations of movement regarding time and space.   

Hyundai Motor will also showcase its new PnD (Plug & Drive) robotic module platform under the new concept of Mobility of Things (MoT), which aims for the provision of mobility in everything — from traditionally inanimate objects to even community spaces.

CES 2022 visitors will be able to experience the company’s exhibition booth that will show how mobility in the real world can be advanced with robots and offer a glimpse of the future robotics society, which will enable transportation between the virtual and real world. 

The company will also exhibit its robot product line up, including the recently revealed Mobile Eccentric Droid (MobED) as well as Boston Dynamics’ Spot and Atlas.

https://bit.ly/32qGQ0I

Colin-on-Cars - De Villiers cleared to race

Giniel de Villiers is on his way to Jeddah to take part in the Dakar Rally after having initially tested positive for Covid.

Now cleared, he will join the team that sees three all-South African crews will be taking part in the 2022 edition of the Dakar Rally, as part of the four-car Toyota Gazoo Racing team. They will be joined by the newly crowned winners of the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) and co-driver Mathieu Baumel.

The South African crews consist of Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy; South African Cross-Country Champions Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings; and Shameer Variawa partnered with Danie Stassen.

Race-proven

All four crews will be fielding the latest iteration of the race-proven Hilux – the new Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+. The new car features the twin turbo V6 petrol engine from the new Toyota Land Cruiser, together with bigger wheels, a new, single-shock suspension system with more travel, and a bold new look.

The car was designed and developed at the team’s HQ in Barbeque Downs near Kyalami. The new car represents the latest version of the proudly South African project, that has seen the team compete at the Dakar Rally since 2012, attaining multiple podiums and one overall victory during the last ten years. Now, the new car is ready to start a new chapter in the team’s Dakar story and beyond.

Begin

Dakar 2022 is set to begin on January 1, with a liaison from the city of Jeddah to Ha’il. The road section covers 815 km, and will be followed by a short, timed section of 19 km, which will be used to determine the starting orders for Stage 1.

The route then moves in a clockwise direction, visiting towns such as Al Artawiyah and Al Qaisumah before reaching the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Here, the bivouac will remain in place for several days, until the rest day on January 8th. From Riyadh, the race will continue to Al Dawadimi, Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha, before concluding in Jeddah on January 14.

CAR NUMBERS:

201 -      Nasser Al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel

207 -      Giniel de Villiers / Dennis Murphy

223 -      Shameer Variawa / Danie Stassen

225 -      Henk Lategan / Brett Cummings

QUOTES:

Glyn Hall, Team Principal: “The team is fully prepared for the upcoming Dakar, and we are excited to test our new Hilux T1+ against the competition. We’re confident that the new car has put us on an all-new level, but you never know just how good you are until the flag drops for the start of the race. We can’t wait to get going in Hail.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah: “We are very proud of winning the 2021 World Cup – a third victory for Toyota Gazoo Racing. The car that brought us all the wins in 2021 was extremely reliable and very fast, but the new car is definitely better. We’re ready to attack from the start at the Dakar Rally, as we’ll be aiming for the top step of the podium.”

Giniel de Villiers: “We’ve been plagued by many punctures during the previous few Dakar Rallies, but we hope that the new T1+ specification will give us an opportunity to attack throughout the event. The new car and new engine is a powerful combination, and we are confident that we’ll be able to take the fight to the competition.”

Henk Lategan: “For me, Dakar 2022 is a chance to show what I am truly capable of. Brett and I had an excellent outing at Dakar 2021, but unfortunately our progress was cut short in Stage 5. We are very excited about our prospects for the upcoming event.”

Shameer Variawa: “Last year was my first Dakar finish, but I am confident that 2022 will bring an even better result. This time around, I don’t just want to finish – I want to show what I’m capable of in one of the world’s toughest automotive races. The new Hilux T1+ is an extremely good car, so now the work is up to me and Danie Stassen, who will be racing in his first Dakar Rally.”

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