Day 12 at the 2013 Dakar Rally was interrupted by weather. It seems kind of strange to say that Dakar has been effected by flooding as I usually associate the Dakar with hot dry weather.
2013 Dakar Rally Day 12 Route Map
The weather conditions were worse than expected which resulted in the dry river beds that cross the route being in a state
of torrential flood. I saw the video of these rivers and the term “raging flood waters” would be appropriate, particularly with the Rio Grande. The rally organisers decided to stop the timed section for the cars and trucks at Checkpoint 1. Some of the competitors wanted to carry on, as major problems like this present the real possibility that the leaders could lose several hours, if they got flooded in a river somewhere.
With the shortened course, the winner of today’s stage was Robby Gordon. This is his first stage win of the 2013 Dakar Rally and his 6th Dakar Rally stage win in his Dakar career.
Several of the top stage finishers today were not names that have typically been seen at the top of the day’s results. These were drivers who were aggressive at the first part of the stage.
The flood shortened stage results are as follows.
2013 Dakar Rally Day 12/Stage 11 Results – Cars Class
| Name | Mark | Time | Variation | Penalty | |
| 1 | GORDON (USA)WALCH (USA) | Hummer | 00:50:21 | – | – |
| 2 | CHABOT (FRA)PILLOT (FRA) | SMG | 00:51:29 | 00:01:08 | – |
| 3 | ÁLVAREZ (ARG)GRAUE (ARG) | TOYOTA | 00:52:38 | 00:02:17 | – |
| 4 | ERRANDONEA (AND)DEBRON (FRA) | SMG | 00:54:20 | 00:03:59 | – |
| 5 | DE VILLIERS (ZAF)VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU) | TOYOTA | 00:54:46 | 00:04:25 | – |
| 6 | PETERHANSEL (FRA)COTTRET (FRA) | MINI | 00:55:25 | 00:05:04 | – |
| 7 | COFFARO (VEN)MENESES (VEN) | TOYOTA | 00:55:48 | 00:05:27 | – |
| 8 | SOUSA (PRT)RAMALHO (PRT) | GREAT WALL | 00:56:16 | 00:05:55 | – |
| 9 | GADASIN (RUS)KUZMICH (UKR) | G-FORCE PROTO | 00:57:43 | 00:07:22 | – |
| 10 | TERRANOVA (ARG)FIUZA (PRT) | BMW | 00:58:03 | 00:07:42 | – |
Peterhansel still has a substantial overall lead and I don’t expect that to change. Days like today are not helpful to those trying to catch Peterhansel. The rest of the field needs more competitive stages and more miles to provide Peterhansel with more opportunities to have a big problem.
2013 Dakar Rally Overall Standings After Day 12/Stage 11 – Cars Class
| Name | Mark | Time | Variation | Penalty | |
| 1 | PETERHANSEL (FRA)COTTRET (FRA) | MINI | 29:07:25 | – | – |
| 2 | DE VILLIERS (ZAF)VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU) | TOYOTA | 29:59:24 | 00:51:59 | – |
| 3 | NOVITSKIY (RUS)ZHILTSOV (RUS) | MINI | 30:34:05 | 01:26:40 | – |
| 4 | ROMA (ESP)PÉRIN (FRA) | MINI | 30:44:34 | 01:37:09 | – |
| 5 | TERRANOVA (ARG)FIUZA (PRT) | BMW | 31:08:52 | 02:01:27 | – |
| 6 | SOUSA (PRT)RAMALHO (PRT) | GREAT WALL | 31:43:16 | 02:35:51 | – |
| 7 | CHICHERIT (FRA)GARCIN (FRA) | SMG | 32:03:40 | 02:56:15 | – |
| 8 | CHABOT (FRA)PILLOT (FRA) | SMG | 32:06:21 | 02:58:56 | 00:01:00 |
| 9 | ERRANDONEA (AND)DEBRON (FRA) | SMG | 32:08:58 | 03:01:33 | 00:01:00 |
| 10 | THOMASSE (FRA)LARROQUE (FRA) | BUGGY MD RALLYE | 32:52:16 | 03:44:51 | – |
In the bike class Kurt Caselli, the American rider, has won his second stage at Dakar. Actually today we had an American win both the Cars Stage and the Bike Stage. I don’t think that this has ever happened before and was quite unexpected.
While Caselli had a strong ride, the key to his win was not getting lost. Many of the top riders struggled with navigation issues today which slowed them up somewhat. Despres did what he needed to do which was to finish third without losing time to anyone who could catch him.
2013 Dakar Rally Day 12/Stage 11 Results – Bike Class
| Name | Mark | Time | Variation | Penalty | |
| 1 | CASELLI (USA) | KTM | 02:55:01 | – | – |
| 2 | GONÇALVES (PRT) | HUSQVARNA | 02:59:46 | 00:04:45 | – |
| 3 | DESPRES (FRA) | KTM | 03:01:25 | 00:06:24 | – |
| 4 | PEDRERO (ESP) | KTM | 03:05:19 | 00:10:18 | – |
| 5 | LOPEZ (CHL) | KTM | 03:05:52 | 00:10:51 | – |
| 6 | BARREDA BORT (ESP) | HUSQVARNA | 03:06:10 | 00:11:09 | – |
| 7 | BOTTURI (ITA) | HUSQVARNA | 03:06:32 | 00:11:31 | – |
| 8 | JAKES (SVK) | KTM | 03:06:37 | 00:11:36 | – |
| 9 | DUCLOS (FRA) | SHERCO | 03:07:22 | 00:12:21 | – |
| 10 | FARIA (PRT) | KTM | 03:13:04 | 00:18:03 | – |
The bikes did not quite have the river crossing problems that the cars had, but it looked like this was because the bikes reached the major river crossings earlier in the day. The rivers seemed to be worse later in the day.
Jean Azevedo At The End Of The Stage
Despres remains in control of the Bike Class. The KTM bike team is really putting in a great performance.
The overall standings in the bike class are presented in the following table.
2013 Dakar Rally Overall Standings After Day 12/Stage 11 – Bike Class
| Name | Mark | Time | Variation | Penalty | |
| 1 | DESPRES (FRA) | KTM | 33:48:29 | – | 00:15:00 |
| 2 | FARIA (PRT) | KTM | 34:01:45 | 00:13:16 | – |
| 3 | LOPEZ (CHL) | KTM | 34:06:37 | 00:18:08 | – |
| 4 | JAKES (SVK) | KTM | 34:12:02 | 00:23:33 | – |
| 5 | BOTTURI (ITA) | HUSQVARNA | 34:18:01 | 00:29:32 | 00:15:00 |
| 6 | PEDRERO (ESP) | KTM | 34:32:41 | 00:44:12 | – |
| 7 | PAIN (FRA) | YAMAHA | 34:55:41 | 01:07:12 | – |
| 8 | VERHOEVEN (NLD) | YAMAHA | 35:03:06 | 01:14:37 | – |
| 9 | RODRIGUES (PRT) | HONDA | 35:04:53 | 01:16:24 | 00:15:00 |
| 10 | PIZZOLITO (ARG) | HONDA | 35:11:42 | 01:23:13 | – |
Tomorrow the the Dakar Rally will go about 450 miles from Fiambala to Copiapo. On this stage there will be about 198 miles that will be timed. There are only three stages left, so the overall leaders are in a very good position.
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