ARI Vatanen kicked up his own kind of desert storm in Morocco
yesterday as he took over the lead in the Paris-Dakar Rally with a fine
exhibition of speed and skill on the third leg.
The Finn, driving a Citroen, showed no signs that a two-year absence
from an event he already has won four times, had blunted his artistry on
the tough desert terrain.
Starting the day in fifth place overall, Vatanen put his car through
its paces over 405kms of timed stages on the stony route from El
Rachidia to Ouarzazate, which also included the first sand dunes of the
rally.
Ousting France's Bruno Saby from first place, the Finn took a lead of
more than seven minutes over his Citroen team-mate Pierre Lartigue,
another Frenchman.
''I'm very glad because this was the old Vatanen of the old
Paris-Dakars who was driving here,'' the new leader said after his
efforts of the day.
It was a good day for Citroen with Vatanen's fellow-Finn Timo Salonen
taking over third place as well and pushing Saby's Mitsubishi down to
fourth. Saby lost time when he got lost among the dunes.
In the motorcycles section, Heinz Kinigadner, of Austria, riding a
KTM, extended his lead and now enjoys a 10-minute cushion over Spanish
Cagiva rider Jordi Arcarons. Standings:
Third stage -- 1, A Vatanen (Finland) Citroen, 9hr 05min.22sec; 2, P
Lartigue (France), Citroen, 7min.06sec behind; 3, T Salonen (Finland),
Citroen, 8-03; 4, B Saby (France), Mitsubishi, 12-41; 5, J-P Fontenay
(France), Mitsubishi, 31-07.
6, K Shinozuka (Japan), Mitsubishi, 39-44; 7, J-L Schlesser (France),
Buggy, 2hr 03min.38sec; 8, D Guedes (Portugal), Nissan, 2-43-27; 9, T de
Lavergne (France), Nissan, 2-49-42; 10, S Pornsawan (Thailand),
Mitsubishi, 3-01-55.
Motorcycles -- 1, H Kinigadner (Austria), KTM, 10hr 20min.57sec; 2, J
Arcarons (Spain), Cagiva, 10min. behind; 3, T Magnaldi (France), Yamaha,
15-09; 4, S Peterhansel (France), Yamaha, 15-39; 5, E Orioli (Italy),
Cagiva, 31-23.
6, R Sainct (France), Honda, 32-36; 7, O Gallardo (France), Cagiva,
45-05; 8, D Laporte (USA), Yamaha, 45-39; 9, T Boluda (Spain), Cagiva,
52-52; 10, F Meoni (Italy), Honda, 1-06-02.
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