Tubus Racing

Pelle & Olle fortsätter att klättra mot toppen

 Stage Three: Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci. Total distance is 694km of which 616km is the competitive stage. Route notes suggest this stage (entering Patagonia) will be hillier, with some long curved sections and plenty of lakes to navigate by. Pink flamingoes will be a feature - if the crews have time to notice!

A sensational effort by the two Isuzu Rally crews on Day Three of the Dakar has put them into the top 50.

Pelle Wallentheim/Olle Ohlsson (Tubus Racing; car 447) finished 34^th quickest on the stage, which puts him in 36^th outright, while Bruce Garland/Harry Suzuki (Garland MotorSports; car 362) finished the day in 47^th for 46^th outright.

Up the front, it was Nasser Al-Attiyah (BMW) who was the fastest on the day, to secure his second stage win of the event.

Having lost the lead to dual world rally champion Carlos Sainz (VW) during Stage Two, Al-Attiyah set about moving back up the order after a trip off-course on Sunday saw him slip from first place down to fourth.

On the stage, Dieter Depping and de Villiers (both VW) were third and fourth quickest ahead of Stephane Peterhansel (Mitsubishi) but overall it is Sainz, Al Attiyah and De Villiers, with nine-time Dakar champion, Stéphane Peterhansel in fourth.

Originally known as the Paris-Dakar, the Dakar Rally has been staged in Africa since 1978, but last year's event was cancelled on the eve of the start after terrorists killed seven people in the area and made direct threats to the organisers of the rally, hence the move to South America.

The new event will take competitors 9500km (including 5600km of special stages) from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso in Chile and back (January 3-17), via the Andes Mountains and the Atacama Desert, said to be the driest place on earth. The event will travel to a height of 4700m, the highest in the rally's 31-year history.

Garland/Suzuki and Wallentheim/Ohlsson are driving two Isuzu D-Max utes, hand-built in Garland's Sydney workshop. They put out 160kW of power (up 33 per cent on the standard vehicle) and 500Nm of torque (@2000rpm; up 39 per cent).

Their results so far:

Day One:        Garland/Suzuki 51^st O/R; Wallentheim/Ohlsson 67^th O/R

Day Two:        Wallentheim/Ohlsson 61^st O/R (64^th on stage)

Garland/Suzuki 65^th O/R (72^nd on stage)

Stage Four: Jacobacci to Neuquen.

Total distance: 488km; Competitive: 459km.

According to the official event notes:

"At the start of this stage, the rocky passageways will make heavy demands on the arms of the motorcyclists, while those who are accustomed to ‘wadis' (dry river valleys - shallow and steep) will be obliged to negotiate the Argentinian ‘rios' with the same careful attention. Next, the first sandy portions and the long kilometres of off-road will thrill those who love driving them. Careful now! Mistakes can begin to be costly: the stage towards Neuquen has all the ingredients of a trap. By taking on more or less of a lead, the favourites can begin to show themselves and provide indications of a ranking that might just last."