Isidre Esteve had the arrival of the Dakar in the Empty Quarter desert marked in red. And with good reason. This Wednesday, the Repsol Toyota Rally Team has signed its most competitive performance in this edition. On the 118-kilometer special stage of the day, entirely on dunes, the Spanish team finished less than ten minutes behind the leader and, above all, reconfirmed its increased pace. In the general standings, he gained two more positions and is now 24th (17th in T1+).
The driver from Lleida had already warned the day before that he was looking forward to the passage of the toughest race in the world through the desert, because it is a terrain in which he feels very good at the wheel of the Toyota Hilux T1+, and it showed. "It was a fantastic stage. We had to overtake five trucks and it cost us a bit, the sand was very disturbed. But the car is perfect and we kept a good pace in the dunes. We were fast and made no mistakes, and we had a good time", said a satisfied Isidre Esteve.
The performance of the team supported by Repsol, MGS Seguros, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Spain and KH-7 is even more remarkable given the equality in the leading group. Despite losing just 9 minutes and 39 seconds to multi-champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, the Spanish team finished 33rd on the special stage (15th among the T1+ cars). The gap is so close that with a couple of minutes less they would have climbed up to the absolute partial Top 20.
"We knew this would happen, we just needed a round day. I am very happy for the whole team; for Txema, for the mechanics, for the engineers, for all the people around us who make us enjoy this car and this discipline", says the Repsol Toyota Rally Team driver.
Regardless of the position in the stage, the good partial record allows Esteve and his co-driver Txema Villalobos have already entered the absolute Top 25. And, above all, with a good feeling. "Surely those in front, with the ground less disturbed, have been able to run a little more, but we are very happy. I feel good and the car is going well, so we are ready and looking forward to the '48-hour time trial' that is coming up. I think our Toyota is ideal for this type of specials", Esteve asserts.
The driver from Oliana (Lleida) refers to one of the highlights of this edition, the "48-hour time trial", which starts this Thursday from Shubaytah. It is a marathon stage of 818 kilometers, 584 of which are timed and entirely on the sand and dunes of the Empty Quarter. The peculiarity is that the special stage is disputed over two days, with no assistance in between, beyond the vehicle crew's own means.
Thus, this Thursday, at 16:00 (local time), there will be a curfew and the drivers will have to stop for the night in the nearest bivouac (or "breakzone"), of the seven distributed along the route. The following day, Friday 12th at 7:00 a.m., they will set off again to complete the special stage. In addition, the route will be different for motorcycles and cars, so that the latter will run without previous traces.
Automatic translation of the Spanish version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: Repsol Toyota Rally Team
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