Stage 3: San Rafael – San Juan
Road connection: 292 km
Special Stage: 301 km
Road connection: 3
Total: 595 km
The third stage of the Dakar brought competitors to the comfort of the Andes Mountains before their arrival to the bivouac located in the heat of San Juan. The rains erased part of the road in the mountains and the stones were the main dish of a very rough selective section.
Nicolas Duclos/Sébastien Delaunay N°364 – 76°: “It was a hard day. It was so stony, beds of stones in the river, and also in the fesh-fesh. We stopped three times… The first time because I wedged in a canyon and I restarted it as we were moving. 10 meters from there, Seb made me stop because we had no oil pressure. So I mounted on a 20 meters slope to avoid narrow roads. In fact, there was nothing and we kept going. Then, we had a puncture in a left turn, on a hole full of stones that cut the tire… the third stop was because our Sentinel went on (the alert activated by the vehicle behind you when they want to pass you). I was going to go to the side of the road when the car honking bumped us. It was a Russian team, and Seb got down of the car and went to tell them his thoughts. Happily the RZR was not damaged and we are here. Another day! »
Willy Alcaraz N°350 – 78°: “For me, this was a beautiful stage and I had a nice day in spite of two punctures. You really had to pay attention all the time… it was a rough selective section with fesh-fesh and river beds. I had two punctures in the last 50 km due to the heat and the stones. I also lost my flag…. But besides that, there were amazing landscapes.”
Gary Connell/Annie Seel N°366 – 80°: “It was magnificent! And here we are at San Juan, our “turtle” has arrived to his destination at a cruiser speed aiming to avoid mistakes. We had no punctures and did not have any troubles! It was in the mountains, it was beautiful, and fresh. It was great, I enjoyed it!”
Yasir Saedan/Laurent Lichtleuchter n°386 : The electrical connection that brings Power for injection burnt. They finished the special on only one cylinder and with the help of Marco Piana’s trust in the critical parts.