Leading Peterhansel shaken after a collision with Slovenian Marčič

Stephane Peterhansel, who is racing for Peugeot at the Dakar Rally, drove visibly shaken to the finish line after Thursday's collision with our only representative Simon Marčič.

The winner of last year's Dakar Rally collided with Marčič after a confusion with navigation soon after the start of Thursday's test. Marčič, who is riding a KTM motorcycle in Dakar, broke his leg, while Peterhansel was waiting for the arrival of a medical helicopter with an injured racer.

At first, the Frenchman was left without a lead in the rally due to lost time, but this was not important to him, as he was aware that Marčič could have taken it much worse.

“We were both lost,” Peterhansel explained. “Actually, we all got lost there, so I drove slowly, about 60 kilometers per hour. I didn’t see him because of the bushes, and luckily he didn’t drive fast either. When he saw me he braked hard and fell in front of me and I could not avoid him. The collision was not strong, but when I stopped he was already lying under the car. My co-driver Jean-Paul immediately checked the situation, I drove backwards, and there was nothing worse with Marčič.

I hit him in the leg and he didn’t hit his head in the accident. He immediately said he had an injured leg, so we waited with him for about 15 minutes, until the helicopter arrived.

It was very difficult to find the right path in the riverbed. This is not a criticism at the expense of the organizers, as they just wanted to prepare a difficult test.

After the accident with Marčič, I met at least 20 other racers on motorcycles, who drove towards me. I had a hard time staying focused, but now I can say that fortunately it was “only” a broken leg. If I hit him in the head, I might even kill him, ”Peterhansel was shocked.

Due to the sporting move, the organizers, as usual at the Dakar Rally, decided to make up for the lost 14 minutes with Peterhansl, who finished the test almost seven minutes behind Sebastien Loeb, the closest rival to win, so that he kept the lead before today. at the rally.

Peterhansel also publicly apologized to Simon for the accident and wished him a speedy recovery.