[M5Rick]

Former F1 driver Alonso made a cautious start in the first leg of Paris-Dakar finishing 11th in his Toyota Hilux pick up.He's biding his time not to be caught out and being sidelined by a mistake early on as one other competitor has (who rolled over end to end many times injuring himself) and increasing pace later on he has said.

[M5Rick]

Spoke too soon, the Hilux sustained wheel and suspension damage in second timed stage which they tried to fix themselves,its still all attached but deranged arms and difficult to drive so looks like they'll drop back some.They were up to 4th but now back at 11th.

[racerbruce]

Great updates - thank you. Such an iconic race.

[yco]

Alonso needs to go somewhere to get some detoxification of negative energy and bad luck really.. even his energy is changed drastically in recent 2-3 years.. its visible like a rock..

[M5Rick]

It appears car 310 hit a hole in a dust cloud and both Alonso and Coma repaired the car temporarily which had a broken wheel and bent suspension.Saw a quick vid of them fixing it with tools and spare parts and must say how amazing it was to see him smiling and looking positive.
He lost around two hours because of that.

[M5Rick]

Not a bad day for Alonso even excellent, he was promoted to 4th after another competitor was handed a time penalty for interfering with another car.

[M5Rick]

Not great,Alonso losing time getting off the course and dropping to 13th while Dakar master Peterhansel is on top of the times in a JCW Mini that doesn't look like a Mini ! Roll on stage 5.

[M5Rick]

Alonso,classed as a rookie is in 15th place overall and finishing 7th on stage 5. The pace at the front is relentless with Carlos Sainz (The Matador) leading a second place Toyota pick up by 6 minutes.
Sainz is a two time rally champion with immense experience and looks invincible.

[M5Rick]

Sainz leads overall after stage 6. Alonso 3 hours behind leader.

[3798j]

Originally Posted by yco

Alonso needs to go somewhere to get some detoxification of negative energy and bad luck really.. even his energy is changed drastically in recent 2-3 years.. its visible like a rock..

Most would describe winning the 24hrs of LeMans in 2018 and 2019 for Toyota and winning the 2019 24hrs of Daytona for Cadillac as good luck. If Michael Andretti gets Alonso a car for the 2020 Indianapolis 500, I wouldn't bet against him.

[M5Rick]

Rest day today,Stage 7 will resume tomorrow with the longest stage in Dakar.
It's becoming increasingly clear that the Hilux is not quite a match for the Mini Buggy with the buggy seemingly taking the jumps of the dunes with ease while its more of a drama with the bigger Hilux.

[apexit4]

Not sure if you guys have seen, but the Dakar has claimed another competitor this year. Paulo Goncalves from Portugal fell of his motorcycle and was unconscious when medics arrived. He died en route to the hospital

Very somber reminder that as grueling as the Dakar is, it's also very dangerous. It's not something you think about often, but Motorsport in general seems to be one of the more dangerous sports out there.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by apexit4

Not sure if you guys have seen, but the Dakar has claimed another competitor this year. Paulo Goncalves from Portugal fell of his motorcycle and was unconscious when medics arrived. He died en route to the hospital

Very somber reminder that as grueling as the Dakar is, it's also very dangerous. It's not something you think about often, but Motorsport in general seems to be one of the more dangerous sports out there.

Quite a few have perished on the Dakar since it started, it's an extremely dangerous event and myself have been concentrating on the cars,Alonso in particular.

[M5Rick]

After stage 7 it's the Matador, car 305 in the nimble footed Mini buggy stamping his authority increasing lead to 10 minutes over Al-Attiyah in the heavy handed Hilux.
Peterhansel is 3rd, 9 minutes behind Al-A and better get a move on in his Mini if he wants a JCW 1-2 finish.
Alonso 15th but as normal for him looking enthusiastic.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by apexit4

Not sure if you guys have seen, but the Dakar has claimed another competitor this year. Paulo Goncalves from Portugal fell of his motorcycle and was unconscious when medics arrived. He died en route to the hospital

Very somber reminder that as grueling as the Dakar is, it's also very dangerous. It's not something you think about often, but Motorsport in general seems to be one of the more dangerous sports out there.

This was the last filmed crash , that Paulo Gonçalves had in the Dakar in "2016" .

RIP Paulo "Warrior" Gonçalves (40)

[M5Rick]

After stage 8 it's still Sainz leading overall around 6 minutes from Al-Attiyah,car 300 who gained a bit on this stage but had a 3 minute penalty added to his time from an earlier stage.
Alonso has moved up to 13th

[M5Rick]

Stage 9... Sainz's lead has been chopped to just 24 seconds over that of Al-A .The Matador is thought to have had a flat tyre which is a blow (no pun intended. Third placed Peterhansel is six minutes behind Al-A.
Alonso stopped and gave his spare tyre to teammate Al-A I think.

[apexit4]

Originally Posted by M5theonlyone

Stage 9... Sainz's lead has been chopped to just 24 seconds over that of Al-A .The Matador is thought to have had a flat tyre which is a blow (no pun intended. Third placed Peterhansel is six minutes behind Al-A.
Alonso stopped and gave his spare tyre to teammate Al-A I think.

Alonso has also finally made it back into the top 10 in the overall standings. I think that's a testament to how well he is doing in his first Dakar.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by apexit4

Alonso has also finally made it back into the top 10 in the overall standings. I think that's a testament to how well he is doing in his first Dakar.

Brilliant and he also had the benefit of starting last following the tracks fast without the guesswork.

[apexit4]

Originally Posted by M5theonlyone

Brilliant and he also had the benefit of starting last following the tracks fast without the guesswork.

From what I understand, the cars are usually released to run the course after the motorcycles and in the order in which they finished the last stage. That usually enables even the first drivers of the day to have tracks to follow. That's what made Mondays running harder for the car's since the stage was cancelled for motorcycles/quads as a way to allow those competitors to mourn the loss of Goncalves.

But your point still stands, Alonso hasnt won a stage yet so he has had the benefit of having tracks to follow to assist in navigating.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by apexit4

From what I understand, the cars are usually released to run the course after the motorcycles and in the order in which they finished the last stage. That usually enables even the first drivers of the day to have tracks to follow. That's what made Mondays running harder for the car's since the stage was cancelled for motorcycles/quads as a way to allow those competitors to mourn the loss of Goncalves.

But your point still stands, Alonso hasnt won a stage yet so he has had the benefit of having tracks to follow to assist in navigating.

Talking of finding the way it's got a touch of Indiana Jones in it..following the tracks!

[apexit4]

Well, it looks like we might have cursed Alonso. He suffered a double roll over on today's Stage 10. Here's a link to the video of the roll over if anyone is interested:

https://twitter.com/PacoGrandeTVE/st...277696/video/1

After yesterdays trouble, Carlos Sainz has taken the stage victory from Poland's Jakub Przygonski. AL-Attiyah seems to have run into trouble today instead, finishing down in 17th and allowing Sainz to open up his lead to just over 18 minutes in the general classification.