Yesterday marked the completion of the longest stage of the Dakar Rally for the Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz team, a 543 mile jaunt that wrapped up in South Mauritania's Kiffa.

Through the first two-thirds of the stage, Lohr and her team performed beautifully, completing the second and third checkpoints in 16th and 29th place, respectively.  But as anyone familiar with the Dakar Rally knows, it only takes a split second for things to go from great to terrible.

Between the third stage and the end of the special stage, Lohr and her co-pilot Detlef Ruf were suddenly stopped by a hole as big as car. Both the M-Class prototype's front and rear became stuck deep in the sand, which in turn took Lohr and Ruf costly time to shovel the car free and battle their way to the finish. Despite the setback, the pair finished the stage in 43rd position.

Here's what Lohr had to say about the course:  "It was an eventful special stage. We suffered two punctures and got stuck four times. Furthermore, we re-erected a Nissan that had somersaulted and helped two motorbike drivers. And then, we drove into the deep hole, in the dark. This stage was really awkward and I'm truly happy that it's over."

The Kwikpower Mercedes team is currently sitting in 53rd position, with the eleventh stage taking place as we speak.   We'll keep you posted as the race progresses.

For more info, you can check out the Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz team's full press release below.


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


Nightshift for Ellen Lohr and the ORC racing team



Kiffa/Mauritania – For Ellen Lohr and her co-pilot, Detlef Ruf, the longest leg of the 2006 Dakar Rally (874 kilometres) ended in the middle of the night between 9th and 10th January. The pairing and their M-Class prototype arrived at the leg's finish, in South Mauritania's Kiffa, at 02.30hrs, having completed the longest and most demanding special stage of the entire event. The first two thirds of the marathon stage – completed at day time – went just great. Lohr and Ruf passed the second checkpoint in 16th position and at the third, they held 29th place. But between the third, the so-called ‘CP', and the end of the special stage, the advance of the duo was suddenly stopped by a hole as big as car. Both the M-Class' front and rear stuck deep in the sand, and it took Lohr and Ruf a lot of time to shovel the car free and battle their way to the finish. Still, they finished the stage in 43rd position.

Ellen Lohr: “It was an eventful special stage. We suffered two punctures and got stuck four times. Furthermore, we re-erected a Nissan that had somersaulted and helped two motorbike drivers. And then, we drove into the deep hole, in the dark. This stage was really awkward and I'm truly happy that it's over.”

When Lohr and Ruf arrived at the bivouac, at 02.30hrs, 17 hours had gone by since their start into the leg. And while they finally could rest, their arrival meant the beginning of another nightshift for the service crew of the close to Stuttgart based ORC racing team. The Kwikpower Mercedes-Benz squad leader is Andreas Lennartz, who designed the rally prototype as ORC's designing engineer and also drives the Actros 6x6 – the mobile workshop of the team – during the Dakar Rally. Lennartz and the mechanics, Karsten Buckelt, Vitalij Ruf and Sebastian Harmsen, started to work on the car right away. “We changed the transfer gear and a leaking shock absorber at the left rear wheel, repaired the damaged front and some other bagatelles,” said Lennartz. “Furthermore, we made a complete check-up as the car must be well prepared when Ellen starts into leg ten, at 12.00hrs.” But the ORC crew wasn't the only one that was busy throughout the night. Everywhere in the bivouac, you could see teams forging and melding on their cars.

According to the organisers, the competitors will need about 11 hours to complete today's ‘short' 300-kilometre stage from Kiffa to Kayes, Mali. And the support cars also will have to cope with an exhausting challenge. Just as it was the case in the sixth and the seventh legs, the entire Mercedes-Benz service fleet, the Actros 6x6, the high-capacity van Viano 4Matic and the Mercedes-Benz M-Class for the journalists will also have to go off-road, today. At the end of the day, the rally also represents a true endurance test for these cars and their crews.




Copyright © 2006, Kwikpower