Bad luck on the seventh stage

Already yesterday, I've mentioned the extremely tough track and the risk of a mechanical damage. Today, we were caught out by bad luck. Firstly, we realized that the oil circulation in the front differential wasn't working properly before today's stage began. My co-driver Andreas and me were able to fix the problem in time. Between the second and the third control point on the 351 kilometres of today's stage from Ouarzazate to Tan Tan, the propshaft to the rear axle snapped. We drove the remaining part of the stage with front-wheel-drive only. We lost a total of 16.52 minutes, but we still managed to finish the stage on fifth spot. We keep our fourth position in the overall classification, but we are 21.27 minutes back now compared to yesterday's 4.35 minutes.

Thus the difference to our team mate Hiroshi Masuoka who sat the best time for the second time during this event has increased considerably. But still, nothing is decided yet as the most difficult part of the rally is still to come: Mauritania.

Unfortunately, the stages in Morocco were primarily demanding for the car, whereas the skills of both drivers and co-drivers haven't been put to a serious test on these long straigths yet. This is to change tonight: After an eight-hour break, we will contest the second leg of this seventh stage which covers two parts, thus being the first of two marathon stages.

Find current results on the Dakar website or on the Mitsubishi website.