11:18 NIGHT WATCH
Όταν τα πληρώματα κοιμούνται, οι μηχανικοί εργάζονται. Μια τυπική νύχτα στο bivouac ....
22h36 – De Rooy: “sh... happens!
Shortly before 23h00, the youngest of the De Rooy family eventually made it to the Smara bivouac in a well-battered DAF truck. The night was to be long… After suffering a serious crash, not only did Gerard have to cope with the deception of letting the Kamaz take control of the race while he was comfortably leading, he also has to spend the night working on his truck. in order to eventually start Stage 5. Crashed on its side at km 310, the DAF n°516 was put back on its wheels with the help of the Kamaz team, his father Jan and the fast assistance DAF. But once on the Smara bivouac, Gerard still had a smile on his face when explaining his accident: “It was very bumpy with big jumps. On one of them, the truck lost balance, the rear wheel was stuck in a hole and we pivoted before crashing on the side. There are days like that. Sh… happens”. Time then to start working on the monster machine.
23h30 – 3 hours lost and 4 to repair for Masuoka
The whole Mitsubishi assistance team did all they could for Hiroshi Masuoka to have a brand new car for the start of the Smara-Zouerat stage. The Japanese driver indeed lost around three hours due to a mechanical problem and finally made it to the bivouac at 19h30 in a damaged vehicle. It was time for the mechanics to change the front transmission. It took 4 hours to repair, thanks to the help of the mechanics who usually work on the other official cars.
0h00 – Complete check-up on Vatanen’s car
In the late hours of the night (or early of he morning) the Nissan team was still working on the cars and especially on Ari Vatanen’s pickup after the Finn had complained about transmission problems during g the day’s stage. The car was totally checked in order to be in perfect condition for the very demanding stag 5 and its first dunes of the rally.
1h30 – Everyone at work at Euromaster
After working on all the bikes and cars that they normally take care of, the Euromaster team started this time taking care of their own trucks. A complete check that also concerned the assistance vehicles before the dunes to come and the second part of the rally.
2h10 – A Kamaz crashes
After a series of changes on the Kamaz truck of Ilzigar Mardeev, a truck member and a mechanic took the vehicle on a test run outside the bivouac. The two team members hit a pavement before losing control of the truck and crashing on its side. Both were seriously injured and taken to a close by hospital. The truck was totally wrecked and Mardeev forced to retire from the race.
2h43 – De Rooy still at work
In the DAF team, the De Rooy family was still at work. Father Jan supervising the work of son Gerard on the damaged truck. Despite the helping hand of the entire team members, nothing was yet decided whether to carry on the race of not.
3h00 – The absent
213 bikes made it to the bivouac. Miguel Agullo Gonzalez, Franck Weissner and Robert Knecht were still expected. 149 cars had also made it, 10 were still expected. 65 trucks were also in the bivouac.
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