RALLY DAKAR 2018

Dakar, Step 7, Carlos Sousa: "People can not imagine how hard this Dakar is"Pilot during the day and mechanic at night. Yesterday was the day of Dakar de Carlos Sousa. After 425 kilometers of hard times and more than 301 in connections, Portuguese and Frenchman Pascal Maimon (his navigator) were forced to work overtime at bivouac in the Bolivian city of Uyuni. After all, it was a stage-marathon, which in the terminology of the Dakar is equivalent to saying, a 'special' with prohibition of 'heavy' assistance in the end. The two were back from the toolbox, trying to heal some wounds of the Duster, natural to the hardness and altitude of the Bolivian tracks. An extra effort, after one more step, is not without mishaps, but where they nevertheless set the 23rd best time, they occupy an identical result in the overall classification.It was already early dawn in Portugal, when Carlos Sousa left the bivouac at the end of the 7th stage for a short but deserved rest. "Almost six hours of sleep. A luxury! ", Confesses the pilot, minutes after the alarm clock has touched. "Yesterday was another difficult day. In fact, people can not imagine how hard this Dakar is. At the start of the stage, we made a strong rhythm, turning one minute or less of the top 10 drivers.But in a zone of sand we found some Toyota stuck and we left the track to get around them. It was not the best solution! We jammed it several times and lost a few tens of minutes. When we got back on track, we decided to continue at a more moderate pace. The tire pressures were not the most appropriate and the floors were very hard, even because the first trucks were already in front of us. When they reached the bivouac and back from the toolbox, Carlos Sousa and Pascal Maimon discovered an oil leak in the Duster: "We can not detect the origin, because with our means alone, we can not take away much of the sand and mud accumulated in the mechanics. It can be either the engine or the power steering. We tried everything, but we could not. So today, we are going to start off with a few gallons of oil in the car to try to reach the end of the stage. The goal is going to be 'just' this, we have no alternative. And it's not going to be easy, because it looks like a very difficult day. "Despite the setbacks yesterday, Carlos Sousa / Palcal Maimon set the 23rd fastest time of the seventh stage, 2:02m16 of the fastest, occupying an identical position in the overall standings.

DAKAR TRUCKS:Eduard Nikolaev continues to comfortably lead the Dakar among the trucks. At the end of Stage 7, the Russian Kamaz driver has a comfortable 49m47s advantage over Federico Villagra, which, as he still saw in the cars with Stéphane Peterhansel yesterday, does not mean everything in a race like these, it is in normal conditions a comfortable margin , which allows you to slow down to escape the pitfalls. They are practically 50 minutes ahead for Federico Villagra in Iveco and 2: 49.08 ahead for the third, Siarhei Viazovich in MAZ.

José Luis Abreu and Rodrigo Fernandes,Portugal