Dakar 2011: Stage 9

Ahhh...now to the final days of the 2011 Dakar...

While the event started with over 140 entrants in the "car" category, there are only about 70 left...and boy do the Nissan's show that wear and tear.  All the top Nissan efforts were still alive--until today.  Nani Roma who was the fastest Nissan in the event suffered an unknown problem and had to withdraw during Stage 9.  While this still leaves Lavielle and Cox remaining, it knocks out the only other top 10 finish possibility for Nissan besides Christian.

The best news of the day was Jonah Street in the motorcycle category bringing home the first stage win for a US competitor in this year's Dakar.  The stage win was the second of his career and the first stage win for a Yamaha bike in a number of years (ever?)  Congrats to Jonah and the Rally Pan Am team!

#306  Nani Roma, Gilles Picard, Nissan Overdrive--DNF Stage 9

#312  Christian Lavielle, Jean Michel Polato, Team Dessoude--8th

#317  Andrew "Alfie" Cox, Jurgen Schroder, Nissan Overdrive--14th

#324  Alexander Mironenko, Sergey Lebedev, Nissan Overdrive--18th

#330  Boris Garafulic, Nissan Overdrive--UNK

#331  Francisco Luis E Silvia Inocencio, Nissan Overdrive--DNF Stage 5

#334  David Deslandes, Team Dessoude--DNF Stage 8

#339  Frederic Chavigny, Team Dessoude--29th

#358  Ningjin Lu, Rely Double Star Tire Team--Never made the start

#372  Yong Zhou, Team Great Wall--UNK

#381  Carlos Machado de Oliveira, Team Dessoude--DNF Stage 6

#384  Phillipe Porcheron, Team MMO--28th

#394  Jose Manuel Salinero, Guardia Civil Rally Raid--DNF Stage 6

#402  Herve Toscano, Biscauto Team--UNK

#409  Dominique Laure, Biscauto Team--DNF Stage 6

#426  Kun Liu, Colcar Racing Team--UNK

#434  Hongzhi Guo, Team Dessoude--DNF Stage 3

#435  Juan Carlos Caceres Simons, Peru Rally Raid Motorsports--DNF Stage 6

#443  Roberti Hernan Javier, Raid 4x4 TV Team--UNK

#451 Adriano Vagnini, Raid 4x4 TV Team--UNK