Stage 4 - Driver Quotes

Marc Coma:

"It was a very tough special, in particular at the beginning with the fast start. Then, we had to focus on the navigation and tackle water, a lot of it, in the ríos. I tried to drive at a very high pace from the beginning, but it was difficult. I was able to overtake a few pilots and gain some time on Cyril. Fiambala and many other stages still lie ahead. That is the way things are right now. And I keep on fighting every day."

Giniel de Villiers:

Today's special was a really tricky one, with all those rocks. We saw Nasser have problems less than 20 km from here, but we had no issues and set a high pace without taking too many risks. Tomorrow we are doing the Fiambala special, probably the toughest of the first week of racing, but I am not losing any sleep over it, since we know it well after doing this special for three years. So we will see how it goes! We will try to do our best and hope to achieve a good placing again.

Stephane Peterhansel:

We just stayed out of trouble to avoid getting lost or having flat tyres and with a very consistent pace from the beginning to the end. This strategy paid dividends! But I would have preferred not to lead the field tomorrow, since there will be no motorcycle tracks. This is not what I would have liked from a tactical point of view, but I think the others made a lot of mistakes, so we will race at the front.

Gerard de Rooy:

We overtook a lot of people today, so we had a good day in what was a very difficult special. It was made even tougher by the fact that I broke my cabin suspension 6 km from the finish, which did not help my back and fatigue, especially after the big humpy section. But everything is going smoothly and, most importantly, we keep improving our truck day after day.

Nasser Al-Attiyah:

Towards the end of the special, we got stuck in the mud and it took us a long time to get out of it... But the race is not over yet and we will try to do our best over the next ten days. I am starting to get the feel of my car. This morning we were moving at a great pace, setting the best times without pushing too hard. We actually overtook two of the Minis... So we will see what we can do.

Cyril Despres:

It was difficult because the rainfall in the region these last few days furrowed the tracks and exposed big rocks. Moreover, with this the heat it is physically demanding to maintain a high pace in these conditions... So I am quite happy with my performance today. At the beginning I saw Marc surge ahead and I knew he would claw some time back, but I focused on the navigation to avoid making any mistakes, slowing down a bit before every note. Since we had almost 400 notes today, I will be quite happy if I only lose two minutes.

Frans Verhoeven:

I set off at a very fast pace this morning and was riding in the wake of Cyril, whom I saw in front of me. Everything went OK until 4 km before the refuelling point, when the motorcycle had an electrical problem and refused to start. I noticed part of the rear of the motorcycle had been ripped off, destroying the fuse. I replaced it with some wire and continued to the refuelling point, where I used the allowed 15 minutes to fill my tank and make some repairs. Then I set off with Marc and we finished the special together.

Ales Loprais:

I do not know, how can I say it? It was a very tough special, with loads of dust. Since we broke our windscreen, finishing the special was really difficult, but we made it! We managed to come through it all and this is already a reason to be happy.

Artur Ardavichus:

It was a very difficult, really very difficult special stage. Very fast, a lot of water... Very interesting, I like this! Very good navigation... This is a big experience for everybody, this stage, really, not easy. If every day is like this, I will be happy!

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