The second week of competition of the Dakar Rally has started strong with a special that was not at all a formality, after the rest day that marks the halfway point of the event. Laia Sanz was able to take advantage of the difficulties to climb to 15th overall and regain second place in the T1.2 category, reserved for 4x2 cars.
The KH-7 rider and the rest of the competitors still in the race had to face a total of 874 kilometers this Sunday, with a long 483-kilometer time trial on winding tracks, canyons, sandy esplanades and dunes... A day that had a bit of everything and a lot of one thing: dust.
In fact, the trail left by the vehicles was a major obstacle for the Spanish driver and her co-driver, Italian Maurizio Gerini, who received the bad news yesterday afternoon that, in this seventh stage between Riyadh and Al Duwadimi (Saudi Arabia), they would start from 54th place in the starting order, behind five trucks and a handful of side-by-sides that hindered their progress at the beginning of the stage.
"The first 200 kilometers were horrendous. There was a lot of dust and in areas where it would be normal to go at 150 km/h we even stopped because we couldn't see anything. Until we were able to pass the trucks and the side-by-sides, it was torture. From kilometer 280 we were able to start to run a little. Then the navigation got complicated in three or four places and we struggled a bit, but we managed to get through pretty well. I think a lot of people lost a lot there," said Laia Sanz.
Even so, the KH-7 driver finished the day in the absolute Top 20 of the stage and second in her category, the T1.2. We knew things would happen today and it went well, as far as we could. The pity is that, without the dust at the beginning, today was a stage to do better. The most positive thing is that tomorrow we will have a good starting position".
This Monday, the Dakar will experience its eighth day of competition, with 458 kilometers of special stage out of a total of 678 between Al Duwadimi and Ha'il.
Automatic translation of the original Spanish version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: KH-7 Sport / Laia Sanz official press release
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