Label: dakar

Hirvonen passes to Dakar

Hirvonen passes to Dakar

Rally, WRC
Mikko Hirvonen, a 15-time World Rally Rally winner, will compete with the X-Raid team at the Dakar Desert Rally this year. The Finn said goodbye to the World Rally Championship at the end of last season at the age of 34, and at the 2016 Dakar he will compete with Mini, whom he has already tested in Morocco. The navigation notes will be read to him by Michel Perin, who last year celebrated victory in the desert test with Nani Roma. “Half a year ago, I didn’t know more about the Dakar than I saw on TV,” Hirvonen admitted. “I knew it was a long race with no accurate notes of speeds and turns and that it was more about good orientation than fast driving,” he added.  
Will Loeb chase the 10 WRC title?

Will Loeb chase the 10 WRC title?

WRC, WTCC
Yves Matton, the head of the Citroen team, is convinced that the Frenchman Sebastien Loeb can win the tenth title of world rally champion if he decides to return after his contract to appear in the WTCC series expires at the end of this season. Matton intends to persuade 41-year-old Loeb to return to the World Championships, saying that "the biggest drawback of the WRC Championship is that only two racers are able to regularly win rallies and become champions. One is Sebastien Ogier, who wins titles, and the other is in the WTCC World Touring Car Championship. " Loeb drove a rally in Monte Carlo earlier this season, where he even led from the start. Matton, meanwhile, plans to talk to the nine-time champion about his future. "Sebastien will be our brand 's ambassador for a long time to come
Miran Stanovnik after the end of Dakar 2015: "The race must be driven bravely and with heart"

Miran Stanovnik after the end of Dakar 2015: "The race must be driven bravely and with heart"

formula 1
Shortly after arriving at the finish line of this year's Dakar, Miran Stanovnik said that he could hardly wait to return to Slovenia and that he showed up at Brnik airport less than two days after he took off his racing helmet. Smiling as always. How could he not be when, at the age of fifty, he successfully completed his twelfth of the eighteen Dakar rallies. He talked about combining work with a semi-professional hobby, about the effort in this year's race, about the background of the rally and about whether he would be any faster with the new car. People are wondering where the new mayor finds time for a two-week race. Did you take a vacation for Dakar? Yes, I took regular annual leave. We were quite well organized, the municipality was represented by the deputy mayor at that time, and the director of the municipal administration also knows what he has to do. In addition to t
The resident finished his 18th Dakar in 28th place, Coma fifth fastest motorcyclist

The resident finished his 18th Dakar in 28th place, Coma fifth fastest motorcyclist

formula 1
Due to heavy rain and consequently deep and slippery mud on the route, the organizer interrupted the final stage after the second checkpoint. The resident finished his eighteenth place in the Dakar Rally in 28th place out of 79 motorcyclists who reached the finish line. With its fifth victory, Coma brought KTM its fourteenth consecutive rally victory. Goncalves with Honda and newcomer Price are also on the podium. Due to heavy rain, which turned the terrain into a barely transportable mud bath, the organizer of the Dakar Rally interrupted today's stage after the second checkpoint, thus shortening the 174-kilometer speed test by half. This year, the only Slovenian racer at the rally, Miran Stanovnik from Log near Brezovica, finished the speed test with the 27th fastest time and thus finished in the overall standings.
Dakar 2015, 12th stage: Resident occupies 27th place before the last stage, Coma remains in safe lead

Dakar 2015, 12th stage: Resident occupies 27th place before the last stage, Coma remains in safe lead

formula 1
As many as 1.024 kilometers were covered by Dakar 2015 participants on the penultimate stage to Rosario. After the longest stage of this year, the racers are only 393 kilometers away from the finish line in Buenos Aires. The resident prudently finished in 30th place today, and overall he is in 27th place the day before the end of the race. After today's sixth place, Coma is one step closer to its fifth victory in the toughest rally in the world. The fastest was Price ahead of Barred Bort and Goncalves. The penultimate stage on dusty Argentine macadam was the longest test on the Dakar in 2015. In addition to the 298-kilometer speed test on fast and dusty macadam, the caravan of motorcyclists and crews in cars and trucks covered a 726-kilometer connecting route. Such a distance is after eleven strenuous stages
Dakar 2015, 11th stage: Resident up to 32nd place despite problems with suspension and brake

Dakar 2015, 11th stage: Resident up to 32nd place despite problems with suspension and brake

formula 1
Today was the second shortest stage on the schedule: there was a 351-kilometer speed test with an additional 161 connecting kilometers. Due to technical problems, it is one of the most difficult stages for Stanovnik. He damaged the tire first, followed by problems with the suspension and brakes. At the finish of the marathon stage was the fastest Honda duo, Barreda and Goncalves. Coma remains in safe leadership. Today, the motorcyclists completed the race to Termas Rio Hondo with the second marathon stage. As if to connect the name of today's finish with the name of the race car, members of the Honda factory team, Joan Barreda Bort and Paolo Goncalves, proved to be the best in the 351-kilometer speed test. left the brush
Dakar 2015, 10th stage: 4.970 meters, minus eleven degrees and 31st place for Stanovnik

Dakar 2015, 10th stage: 4.970 meters, minus eleven degrees and 31st place for Stanovnik

formula 1
The motorcyclists returned to Argentina from the windy Calama via the Andes and entered the first part of the marathon stage. There were as many as 891 kilometers on the schedule, most of them at high altitude and at icy temperatures. Desert Fox Stanovnik struggled with height in his rhythm and finished in 31st place. He is twenty-seventh in the overall standings. The first three places were occupied today by Barred, Coma and Quantanilla. Coma remains in the lead. Motorcyclists have not yet taken good care of the wounds from the Bolivian marathon stage, a new one is already on the agenda. The speed test started at an altitude of 3.600 meters, after which the racer's path led over the pass at 4.970 meters above sea level. “We drove on the plateau at minus eleven degrees Celsius. The fingers on the hands almost freeze, the whole body is hard. In such circumstances
Dakar 2015, Stage 8: In catastrophic conditions Resident up to 22nd place, Coma takes the lead

Dakar 2015, Stage 8: In catastrophic conditions Resident up to 22nd place, Coma takes the lead

formula 1
The standing water on the salt lake caused headaches for the racers and their machines, so they stopped the speed test after the 378th kilometer. The resident proved to be in the best position this year in difficult conditions. He finished the stage in 22nd place and advanced to 25th place in the overall standings. Botturi, Metge, Viladoms resigned in the marathon stage. Quintanilla took the first stage victory, Coma took the overall lead. The view of motorcyclists raging across the world’s largest salt lake in this year’s performance of the Dakar wasn’t even nearly as spectacular as last year. Instead of a romantic rampage through the white infinity, the contestants struggled with low temperatures, rain and standing water that in some places exceeded a height of half a meter. "With the help of the weather, the organizer managed to prepare
Dakar 2015, Stage 7: After a day of rest, the cold and rainy stage in Bolivia

Dakar 2015, Stage 7: After a day of rest, the cold and rainy stage in Bolivia

formula 1
After a well-deserved day without racing, the bikers drove across the trail at 4.700 meters above sea level to a plateau in Bolivia. The resident continues to arrive at the finish line in wet and rainy weather without any navigation or technical errors. He reached the 40th largest salt lake in the world; overall remains 37. The fastest on the stage was Goncalves with a 14-second lead over Como. With Barreda barely twelfth, he narrowed the gap to six-and-a-half minutes in Coma’s overall standings. After a day of rest, or rather a day without racing, the motorcyclists continued with the seventh stage, starting at 5 am. This led them from the Pacific coast in an easterly direction to Bolivia, where they will spend the night today without technical assistance at Lake Uyuni, the largest salt lake in the world. Quiet
The resident gained four seats on the sixth stage

The resident gained four seats on the sixth stage

formula 1
The 688-kilometer stage to the city of Iquique was largely fast and rocky, with a few sand dunes only to be traversed in the last part of the speed test. The resident also did well with the stage today and finished 36th. In total, he advanced from 41st to 37th place. In the foreground, eyes were again fixed on the fight between Barredo and Como. For the third day in a row, they played a cat-and-mouse game. Rodrigues scored his first stage victory this year. Fans of watching the crazy descent towards the camp near the city of Iquique were disappointed this time, as the organizer of the Dakar Rally chose the city center as the goal of the sixth stage, which was hit by a strong earthquake on April 1 last year. With their arrival, the racers paid tribute to the victims and enriched the events in the city on the Pacific coast with their race cars. Route