Until the rest day, the X-Raid clan was able to see – with optimism – that its glass was half full. Unfortunately, bad luck struck repeatedly on Sven Quandt's team, who is probably experiencing his toughest 24 hours as team manager. In Arica, Guerlain Chicherit started by ruining the Mini Countryman he was required to bring to Buenos Aires in one piece. And – more importantly – his leader, Stéphane Peterhansel seems to be on a downward slope with a new flat tire after just 15 km of racing today. Concerned by the rotten luck and about managing his spare tires, “Peter” drove conservatively and lost another painful 21' to Carlos Sainz in the standings. But the run of misfortunes does not stop there for BMW. Apart from the two punctured tires of Krzysztof Holowcyc, the X3 of Orlando Terranova went off trail and somersaulted after about 200 km of special stage. The Argentine flagship driver in this category, who seemed to be doing pretty well and about to enter and stay in the Top 5, leaves the race before even reentering his home country.

So the tide seems to be turning in favor of the Race Touareg III, who finished the day with the three fastest times of the special stage … and no flat tires! Nasser Al Attiyah is – once again, like last year – in pursuit of Sainz and gaining ground on the Spaniard. Together with his 10th stage victory in a Dakar, the Qatari is now just 1'22'' from first place in the general standings. Giniel De Villiers who is common to the sometimes useful strategy of playing it slow is also getting closer to the podium: he is now only 11' behind Peterhansel and if he were to pass him in the standings, he would be the one providing for a VW treble.

The wind might have turned in the truck category. Ales Loprais and his copilot Josef Kalina – four-time Dakar winner – were counting on a psychological trigger to bring trouble into the well-oiled routine of the Kamaz trucks. No one will ever know if the Russian clan is getting panicky but one thing is sure: Loprais is driving with confidence. He crossed the finish line of the Antofagasta stage a winner; this is his second consecutive stage victory in his Dakar career. In the general standings, he gets closer to the top and is now 16'22'' behind Kabirov, who is still leader, and is now in front of Vladimir Chagin by almost the same time. A Czech dream might slowly but surely be coming true…

They said :

Carlos Sainz : « We are happy ! »

"It was really hard. But in the end, I am happy. It was not easy to open the road today. There was for instance a very tricky sand dune section. But Lucas does a great job. We are happy. It was a good day, I am sure. But a tough one...really!"

Stéphane Peterhansel : « Bye bye victory ! »

« In the beginning, one of the Volkswagen must have had a problem because we ended up in its dust. It was hard to drive 20 km/h because of the dust while there was no wind. We let them drive ahead and after 15 km we had a flat tire. That was just what we needed to lose confidence for the rest of the stage. I don't have the right speed to drive through this kind of rocky fesh fesh. Minutes add up and it's getting pretty bad. It is my fault. I drive too fast on this terrain. I don't have the right pace. Anyway, on the podium, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 8th, it's all the same. The only thing we wanted at the start was final victory and that seems to be getting out of reach... for sure! »