ANDRE DESSOUDE'S JOURNAL
6th January 2006- Atar
Plenty of emotion today for Team Nissan Dessoude. The special stage was
particularly difficult and tricky between Zouerat and Atar. A true Dakar
stage ... Andre Dessoude's report is a mix of satisfaction and emotion.
"We have just had a very difficult stage, as we thought it would be.
There were plenty of cars stuck in the sand, and hardly anyone avoided
that problem. Despite losing an hour, Carlos Sousa managed a good
result. Tenth in the stage, he is just outside the top ten in the
overall classification.
Jun Mitsuhashi also did well, finishing the stage in 13th position.
He has adapted well to sand, and Jacky is able to pass on all his
experience. This tandem is working very well indeed.
Benoît Rousselot put in a very fine performance, to reclaim the lead of
the Production category. He had a very good special stage, with just
a slight clutch problem at the end. We hope that the next two stages,
which both have plenty of sand, will allow him to pull away from his
rivals.
Xu Lang's Paladin arrived at the bivouac with a seriously damaged front
end, after a heavy frontal collision with a step in a dune. The damage
is spectacular, but the car can be repaired. I hope this incident will
calm him down a bit...
Miguel Barbosa, on his first Dakar, is learning quickly and well. Today,
he is one of the rare drivers not to have got stuck. I am holding him
back all the time, explaining that he should not take any account of the
overall classification, and now, I think he has the right pace. If he
continues like today, this Portuguese team should reach the finish.
Rene Metge is still his usual self, always smiling. He never complains
about his car. Today, while reversing back down a slope, he landed right
on top of a clump of camel grass. His co-driver Bernard Chevalier was
rather stressed at the finish, as they got in very late, and he was in a
hurry to send his report in to the Equipe newspaper.
As for the bad news of the day, it was the retirement of Paul Belmondo
and Bernard Irissou. Just after the start, at the 17-km point, while
they were driving at 140 km/h, the Nissan driven by Hungarian driver
Sandor Kis cut through their path, sending them into a series of rolls.
The car is a total write-off, and unfortunately, Bernard, who had the
bad reflex to hold on to the rollbar, has had two fingers crushed. He
was immediately evacuated to France, to be operated on in the best
possible conditions "
They said...
Xu Lang/Fabian Lurquin -- Nissan Paladin T1" After CP2, there was a dune
where plenty of cars had already got stuck. We decided to go 200 or 300
metres to the left, and I told Xu to accelerate fully.
Unfortunately, there was a big step in the rise, and we hit the front
very hard. The radiator grille, the bumper, the radiator -- everything
had been destroyed. I stemmed the leak, picked up the pieces and got
going again.
Thanks to the two bikers who opened the route for us, over the last 70
kilometres, as it was dark and our headlights were gone"
Benoît Rousselot -- Nissan Pathfinder T2 "For a week, we've been waiting
for this day... You had to be ready, both physically and mentally. On
the physical side, since the start of the rally, I've favoured a rhythm
which favours sleep. Whenever possible, I try to sleep ten hours a
night. I go to bed at around 20:30 ... like the chickens, but it is
really important to recover as well as possible.
We put in a good race today, with a sustained pace, but in intelligent
fashion. We took the time to stop when it was necessary, to listen to
our car, or to think. A few second lost can avoid hours of problems. The
sand was very soft, but we only got stuck twice. In total, we lost eight
minutes. The car was going well, and we only had to take care of a bit
of overheating. Nevertheless, we kept cool throughout the route, and it
paid off. Sylvain put in a super job, he navigated perfectly. Our main
aim was to make sure the car was OK. This evening, I'm a bit tired, but
that is most probably the tension and the continual concentration in
today's tricky sections, and most specifically crossing the ergs. A good
night's sleep will sort all that out..."
Jun Mitsuhashi /Jacky Dubois Nissan Pickup T1 : " At the start, we had a
few navigational problems. Then we drove well, getting stuck in the sand
four or five times, but nothing too serious, losing a minimum of time
on each occasion. I am very pleased with our tyre choice, which proved
essential. I hope we will have as much success in the next stages. I am
really pleased with my collaboration with Jacky Dubois, he is really an
excellent navigator. "
Carlos Sousa -- Nissan Navara T1" Globally, the day was satisfactory,
despite a bit of time lost in the dunes. We didn't deflate the tyres
in the first chains of dunes, but 5 km from the end, the car was
overheating a bit, and we stopped to deflate them, and to carry on with
a bit less force.
We were on a slope, and I went into reverse without seeing that there
were large clumps of camel grass behind us. The car stopped between
the two clumps, in a difficult position, and we couldn't put down the
jacks or the plaques. We had to dig ourselves out, and we lost around 55
minutes. It was really a stupid mistake on my behalf, and I am sorry for
the whole Team, who put in an excellent job. Apart from that, the car
was working very well. It is very efficient over this sort of ground.
I hope that the next two stages will allow us to further improve our
position. It's only default is a lack of topspeed. Yesterday, there was
a long, very fast, section in the middle of the stage, and both the
BMWs and the Schlesser buggys literally left us standing. It was really
impossible to follow them.
Today, we are right in the middle of the Dakar, and fatigue is beginning
to set in, which is most probably why I was a bit inattentive. When we
got stuck, I suddenly felt shattered, and it took me a few minutes to
sort myself out.
Now, our position is clear : to hope to make any further progress in
the overall classification, we will have to cross the next dune stages
without difficulties, and to hope that our rivals have problems ... "
-nissan dessoude-
